That One Boy
by LordLenne
Summary: AU Mother 1/2/3. Claus and Lucas move to a new town known as Onett. There, in an accidental encounter, Lucas meets Ness, the one boy that he'll never regret meeting. NessXLucas, and on the side, ClausXNinten. Fanart story image by yanano of devART!
1. New Town, New House

**Lenne**: Yes, another multi-chapter story from moi. So, before you start reading, here are some notes.

**AU story is AU**. All Mother characters are in the town of...Onett!

And, there shall be no lemons (unlikely unless I change my mind). If there are to be ones, I will state them. However, my current path for this story is the romance/friendship shounen-ai path.

Everyone's age is their respective age. I'm not revealing who they are until Chapter 2 because doing so right now is prologue spoilers :D

Okay, I think that's all that's need to be stated. Well, enjoy!

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><p><span>Chapter 1: New Town, New House<span>

My name is Lucas. I have a family of four, and we used to live at a small country town of Tazmilly. We had all moved to a bigger town for my dad to be near his new, high paying job. All of my friends were left at our hometown. I only had my twin brother, Claus, and our pet dog, Boney, joining our mom, Hinawa, and our dad, Flint, into a new town.

Claus and I looked at the back window of the car once again, only to find the road behind us that led to Tazmilly. We didn't see any part of the town again in our view. We were already long gone.

Boney could feel my sadness as he nudged his whimpering self against my leg. He looked at me in innocent puppy eyes. I think he was telling me, "Don't feel bad, Lucas."

Claus turned around and saw Boney trying to cheer me up. Then, he pet his head with a heartily chuckle.

My mom turned around, worried about our feelings. "Are you both okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, we're fine," replied Claus.

She gave us a smile. "You both really miss Tazmilly, do you?"

We both nodded, and Boney whimpered to try to say "yes" too. Dad, still keeping his eyes on the road, spoke to us.

"Well, maybe someday we could move back. But right now, we got to be focused on our new life."

"Where are we going again?" asked Claus.

Dad sighed. "For the fifth time, it's called Onett, son."

"Ohh, right, right."

Our mom and dad told us Onett was a lively and large town, with much more different and a bigger amount of people. The air, of course, was going to be a new feeling than the old country smell of Tazmilly. There were also some pretty sights, like flower fields. And, from what I've heard, we'd actually get a larger neighborhood unlike six or eight houses a street.

A long amount of time passed as we were on the long road from Tazmilly following a truck of our household items. I looked out the window, finding green fields before starting to meet one large building, then two, and more. I eventually fell half-asleep, but I was awakening by my brother.

"Oh, oh!" Claus exclaimed. He looked out the window, and I did too. We saw houses neatly adjacent to each other. We were already on a neighborhood street. "Are we almost there?"

"Pretty close," responded mom. "Aaand…" the car started to slow down behind the moving truck. "We're here!"

Claus and I looked out my window, and we saw a perfect, untouched white-walled house with a dark gray roof. It was larger than our old house for sure.

"You bought this?" exclaimed Claus.

"Yes, I did. We're going to be living better now."

"Wahoo!" Claus took off his seatbelt and opened the car door, leaving it open so Boney jumped out as well. I looked at the back window, and then to my window, watching Claus and Boney jump in excitement of the big house.

"He certainly seems happy," commented mom.

"Well, time to go unload the stuff." I saw dad give mom a key. "This is the house key. Go on and take the kids inside."

"Okay then. Come on, Lucas." I took off my seatbelt and exited the car with my mom. She and I walked towards the front door, with my twin brother following. She slipped the key into the lock, and twisted left with ease, and slipped the key out to open the door. Inside, we saw beige carpet leading to every room. Up ahead from the front door were stairs attached to the white wall, leading to the left and then cut off. Claus and I went upstairs first. We were in a hallway of five doors, two probably the bedrooms, one bathroom, and two we don't know. On the other side of the hall was another set of stairs, and we followed it down that led to a spot near the kitchen and dining area with smooth, brown tiled floors. On one side of the square was more beige carpet of nothing, which was probably for leisure and from where we stood in front of us was a glass door, leading to a backyard. Outside there was plenty of cut grass that was like it was never touched. There was even a mediocre sized swimming pool.

We both couldn't believe our dad bought this kind of house.

"Awesome!" Claus shouted. I could tell he was too over excited.

"Boys, come upstairs," called our mom. We went back up and she had three doors opened already. They were already filled with beds, one with a double, the other two with single beds apart from each other. We both stopped in front of her as she looked at the doors and spoke to us.

"We have three bedrooms, so I'm going to let you decide if you two want to sleep in the same room or sleep in separate rooms."

Claus thought for a moment. "I think I'll sleep separately."

"Aw, Claus, you don't want to sleep with me anymore?"

"Ah come on Lucas, you gotta grow up too."

Our mom chuckled at us. "Okay then. But you don't have to make it official now. You can keep deciding." She walked off down to the other staircase.

"So what are we going to do about school?" Claus asked.

"Oh, I think we should go to school tomorrow."

"Aww, can't we have like, one day of just trying to get used to our house?"

"We can get used to our house after school, Claus. Now come on, we got to help dad."

As we walked down the stairs back to the front, I had my mind on something. How would school be like? Claus and I were going to be newcomers, and we would stick out since we're twins. I shook my head and pushed the thought away for now.

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><p>It was already nearing night as Claus, dad, and I sat at the dinner table, waiting for mom to finish making dinner. We were all beat from moving boxes and other furniture inside the house. Boney lied down next to my chair, who was also joining in on our first dinner in Onett.<p>

"Okay, dinner's ready!" exclaimed mom. "It's everyone's favorite, omelets!"

'"Woo hoo!" Claus responded . He was the first to get a plate, and immediately started chowing down. I got my plate next.

"Here's yours, honey," said mom to dad.

"Thank you," he said. He began eating as the same pace as I was, savoring our bites.

"And I can't forget you, Boney." Boney was handed a bowl of two stacked omelets. He began biting it down. Mom sat down with her plate and cleared her weariness in one sigh.

"So, you boys ready for school tomorrow?"

Claus said no, while I said yes at the same time.

"Claus, you take care of Lucas at school. But don't be like all the other times and beating up other kids to do so."

"Well I had to beat them up or they would beat Lucas up!" he retorted.

I remembered I was often picked on back at Tazmilly's school. Claus would always protect me or beat up the bullies and then get scolded by mom or dad. What if I get bullied here too? It'd just be my school life all over again. Somehow, I just had to find a way to stick up for myself.

"Well, yes, but you have to make a good first impression to everyone, okay?" said mom.

"Okaaay," replied Claus in an annoyed tone.

"What time do we go to school?" I asked.

"Same as usual," answered dad. "School begins at eight thirty. But you can't walk because it's too far. And I can't take you because I have work, and mom can't either because we don't have a second car. So, you guys will be taking a bus."

"Aww, a bus?" reacted Claus. "Buses are so…cramped." Claus was right. Back in Tazmllly, we had only few buses, and they were especially overcrowded. It was thankful that where we lived we could walk about ten minutes to school.

Dad swallowed his last bite and used his fork at us in his body language. "There are plenty of buses that go around the neighborhoods, so you shouldn't be too cramped in this one. Just get to the end of the street on your right when you leave the house and be there by eight o' clock."

Mom continued for him. "So you both will have to wake up at seven twenty to shower and get dressed, and everything else."

"Aww, we have to wake up earlier now? I hate school here already," said Claus. He pushed away his clean plate.

"What do you think school will be like, Lucas?" asked mom.

"Mm…I think…it'll just be new to me for now."

"I see." She smiled at us and took our plates to the sink. She then looked at us. "Well, you boys can relax until nine, then it's lights out at ten, okay?"

"Okay," we both said. Claus and I got out of our chairs and we both went to go do something. I was on a red bean bag seat watching a cartoon on TV, while Claus was next to me in a light blue bean bag playing his Nintendo DS. He was an avid gamer for sure, while I was the more laid back one, unless it was on a video game I really liked.

As mom said, we shut our leisure at nine and washed up for sleep. Claus took the bedroom next to mine, while our parents were just across from the both of us. It was a new feeling sleeping alone. There were two windows to meet the sun, and two beds split by a wooden drawer. I took the bed farther from the door, putting myself under the white sheets, and began to drift asleep.

I really wonder if I'm going to do well in school tomorrow.


	2. An Accidental Meeting

**Lenne**: Hi agains

So yeahs I promises thats I tells yous guys the ages ofs the peoples in dis storys

Okay still, doing so is spoilers. They shall be revealed in at the end of this chapter. Well, is it important anyways? You all know who's the seme and uke. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ

Oh yeah, SURPRISE. A NEW PAIRING TO ADD TO THIS STORY. Go read the summary. Anyways, read on!

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><p><span>Chapter 2: An Accidental Meeting<span>

"Claus," I said. "Claus, wake up."

"Nn…ten more minutes," he sleepily responded. I sighed, knowing that my usual efforts of waking him up were futile. I exited his room and didn't bother to close the door. Mom walked by and saw me just leaving.

"Oh, is he awake?"

"As usual, no." I looked at her with a worried face, but she smiled at me and entered the room. I waited a few moments and then heard her voice.

"Claus…GET UP NOW!" I heard. I could hear my brother scream from being flipped over.

"Waah!" He fell on the floor, making a thump noise. I peeked in, seeing his blanket being held by mom, who was looking over the bed to see if Claus was okay.

"Awake now?"

"Yeah..." he said.

It was like this every weekday morning just like in Tazmilly. I would wake up first on time, then I tried to wake up Claus with most of my effort, but he never woke up to my work. Instead, I got mom to do my job. Usually she would tug on his hair or start slowly pouring a glass of cold water onto his face. And there was even a time where she climbed into the bed slowly and surprised him instantly. I guess she changed her techniques now.

Dad was already gone to work, which he never told us about. We had a quick bowl of whole grain cereal that mom already prepared for us as we were gussying up and putting in varied clothes of our daily wear as first impressions for school. It was a cold morning and would be a cool afternoon today, so I wore a plain red long sleeve shirt with a yellow scarf. Claus and wore a teal long sleeve shirt with a yellow scarf, and in the end, we both wore khaki slacks but with different shoes—mine were red and white, his were teal and white. I made sure my cowlick style was like a short yet almost fat horn of hair, just like Claus' usual look. Once we both were already set in fashion, I put on my black backpack of nothing and Claus equipped his. He asked why we are wearing them if we have nothing with us, so mom answered that we could take some stuff home in case we get something from school. We were both thinking, what could we even bring from school?

It was already 7:50 AM by the time we were about to leave the house. Claus walked out first and I walked out next, getting to the sidewalk before mom waved us goodbye and told us to make a lot of new friends. We both tried to promise so, but I knew that my timid behavior would forbid the chance, and Claus' protection for me may also prohibit it as well. Regardless, we both walked on the sidewalk, like dad said, to the right direction from our house.

We could already see the end of the street. It was a short one minute walk when we nearly got to the end. But, we had to cross the street as there were other kids waiting at the corner spot next to the open, paved road.

We walked up behind them as we were normal people, but they turned around and stared at us. They already know we were new people. None of them said anything; rather they just turned around and resumed talking to each other or staring left and right for the bus. One person, though, came up to us. He was wearing a blue, red and white striped shirt over a darker blue long sleeved top. He wore blue shorts as well, despite the chill around the air. The only other thing that made him stand out was a red neckerchief around his neck.

"Hi there!" he said in his light voice. "I've never seen you guys before. Are you new?"

"Uh…" was the only thing I could get out. I would have spoken, but Claus took over.

"Yeah, we are. We're just starting today."

"I thought so. Because I've never seen twins before at our school." He looked at the both of us. He was trying to compare our looks. I could tell he was comparing our hair style, or maybe our hair color. Then he poked Claus' cowlick.

"Hey!" he retorted.

"Sorry, but it's just funny." He smiled at us. He was like an innocent child. "I'm Ninten, by the way."

Claus replied after checking his head for a second. "I'm Claus. And this is Lucas."

I could only wave my hand shyly as he looked at me in curiosity. He waved back, trying to mirror my gesture.

"I could show you guys around the school if you want," he said.

"Sure, why not?" replied Claus. At that moment, a large, yellow vehicle appeared from our left on sudden notice. Ninten turned around, already seeing the door open. Then he turned back to us.

"I'll show you guys to the principal first. She'll have to set you guys in your classes and whatnot." Ninten turned around and boarded the bus along with the others. Claus followed after, and then I was the last kid to step on. As we boarded, we were stopped by the bus driver. She was a nice lady, with some kind of foreign accent.

"I've never seen you two before," she said questioningly. "What are your names?"

"I'm Claus," said my brother.

"And you?" she looked at me. Her kind eyes reassured me.

"I'm Lucas," I said.

"Okay, nice to meet you both. I'm your bus driver, Miss Teresa."

"Okay, nice to meet you too," said Claus. I couldn't tell if he actually cared, but his tone was friendly, which was good of him to show back respect.

"Take any seat that's free," said Miss Teresa. Claus looked around, and then moved to a spot on our right side in the middle of the bus that was near Ninten when I looked over. As we walked over to the free seat, other kids were staring at our conspicuousness, and I also heard Ninten chatting to a friend.

"Hey Loid, guess what! I met twins!"

"Really? When?"

"There! See?" he looked at us, then a boy with gray hair poked out his head. He just stared at us, while Ninten said "hi" once again. Claus put his hand up and then sat in the seat next to the window, leaving me on the edge seat. I tried to sit closer to Claus, so I could be out of everyone's sight, but since I was in the middle of the bus, I was sure I could still be seen by people in the back.

I was curious how Claus was feeling. He seemed to look out the window with a neutral face, and then back at me with a grin. How was he taking this so easily?

Suddenly the bus door closed and the engine roared louder. We were on the move.

The bus travel was not as tortuous as we had expected. It was a peaceful and not so time consuming ride of about fifteen to twenty minutes. We had picked up one more group of six or seven kids before we actually went on the path to school, according to Ninten. Chatter floated around the bus, and most of it was unable to hear clearly when in combination to the running bus engine. The only person I could hear slightly was Ninten talking to his friend Loid, if I recalled correctly, about their science project to build a rocket. I was only sitting there, taking the view of the window as Claus had fell asleep. It was a pleasant and serene view of the town. There were neatly made houses and buildings, as well as plain colored cars that were so simple yet appealing. The green grasses and small patches of flowers unoccupied by a building looked so attractive like the sun made sure they never died. I started to fall asleep too, until Ninten poked his head out to my right.

"We're almost there," he said. Then he went back. I woke up Claus informing of Ninten's message. We both looked out the window, and we were nearing a neighborhood, but then we were on a bridge that was distanced away from the first house. Then we met a large building that was stretched to about meters shorter than the soccer field with players we were seeing. It was the school. We were stopped at the back of the school, and the bus door opened. The kids in front of us started to stand up and exit the bus two at a time from each side. Claus and I stood up as well, also following the line out of the bus.

"Have a nice day," said Miss Teresa to each person. And when she said it to us, she said it with an extra "Lucas and Claus" that it had a hint of "good luck" to us.

Claus and I stood on the sidewalk where other kids were talking to between metal gates. They were on the path to the back doors, and we wanted to walk on too, but we had to wait for Ninten. As we waited, we saw other buses in front of our current bus, and the one just in front of ours started to drive away as its storage of students was already empty. It rolled onto the road until it made a turn to the left.

Ninten came out after the next two kids behind us, with his friend Loid. He still stared at us, also comparing us as Ninten did. "So which one is which?" said his dorky voice.

"The one with yellow hair is Lucas, and the one with orange is Clausy."

"Clausy!" exclaimed Claus. "When did you give me that name!"

"Since a second ago. I just came up with it," he chuckled. Loid and I also laughed when Claus started to pull Ninten's hair with both of his hands in his annoyance. The short teasing scene was very comical.

The four of us started to follow the sidewalk path with me being next to Loid, while Claus was trying to clear things up with Ninten.

"It's Claus, NOT Clausy, got it?"

"Okay Clausy!"

"What did I just say!"

I snuck a snicker under my breath as the little scene went on. Then Ninten began to talk about the real deal.

"So, you two will have to go see the principal first so you can get your classes. Though I think the counselor does it, but it's nice to see the principal. She's very friendly."

"Who's the principal?" asked Claus.

"Principal Zamora," replied Ninten.

Claus misheard the "zee" sound. "Samora?"

"No Clausy, Zamora," he said with emphasis.

"Enough with Clausy!"

"But it's a good name!"

"No it's not!"

I sighed instead of chuckling with Loid this time. I strayed my mind off on how the principal would look like. And if she is friendly, what kind of friendly degree is she on? Was it a nine on a scale of one to ten, or maybe eleven? Then I looked around at the students passing by us. They were looking at me. Not at Loid or the comical couple in front of me. What was wrong with me? Or maybe am I just mistaking things?

I stopped my movement, looking at the ground, and then the school. I could read the school name on the block of bricks above the door, which I also saw on the front of the school as we were on the bus. The letters read "E.B. Junior High." What did E.B. stand for?

"Lucas!" I heard. Claus, Ninten and Loid were already many steps ahead of me. "What're you doing?"

"Sorry!" I yelled back. I really needed to stop my mind from wandering away. I was about to take a step, until Claus called to me again.

"Lucas! Behind you!"

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><p><strong>*Two Minutes Ago*<strong>

"Oh come on Paula, you can't really expect me to ask that girl out."

Paula sighed. "Well Jeff, there's always Tony…"

"No! Heck no!"

Ness laughed at Jeff's reaction. "Seriously Jeff, what's wrong with Tony?"

"He's not into girls is what! And moreover, he's into me!"

"So? Better try than not trying," said Paula.

"No way, it's just…creepy."

Ness walked ahead of the two and started walking backwards, knowing that there was no one in front of him. "What's creepy?"

"The idea of dating guys," replied Jeff.

"There's nothing wrong with that," Paula said. "Guys dating girls doesn't mean guys can date guys and girls can date girls. It's like the same thing as me going out with Ana."

"You're going out with Ana?" asked Ness. "You never told me that!"

"It was just an example, Ness!" Paula responded. "I oughta get my frying pan out and smack you again!"

"Oh gosh, no!" Ness started to pick up his back step speed as Paula was trying to only keep her distance from Ness to scare him.

"Can't catch me!" said Ness.

"Yeah, you better run!" Paula taunted. She kept pacing up to Ness, until she put on a worried face. "Ness, look out!"

"Huh?" Ness turned his head, seeing a blonde boy behind him. Just at the last second, he was able to turn around and stop, but he had to grab the other boy's shoulder and waist as support.

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><p><em>I'm being touched by someone<em>, I thought. But I could tell it was an accident, because I heard a "watch out" from both ways. The person bumped into my back and managed to grab me to not trip and fall. In surprise, I turned my head left. I saw his face. And…it was a new feeling. It felt like my heart skipped a beat.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" he said hastily. He put on a faint pink blush in his rush.

"N-No!" I responded, feeling my face flush as well. "It's okay." He was still hanging onto me as we looked at each other. My heart was still thumping in an abnormal pattern. Why wasn't it beating normally? Just what am I feeling?

He let go after he was reassured of his safety. I turned around to get a good look at him. He was wearing an unbuttoned, dark red vest over a blue shirt with pulled up sleeves, meaning he must have felt warm already or was feeling the enjoyment of the cold. He was wearing blue shorts as well, which was my usual daily wear when it was a cool weather. His hairstyle was slightly disheveled as I compared it to Ninten's, but he had short bangs hanging a bit above in front of his ears. I felt like I needed to know his name. What is it?

"Ness!" I heard. A girl in a pink sweater and skirt rushed up to us with a boy with glasses who was wearing almost a full green suit with a black necktie. She was checking the both of us, before asking us a question. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," said the boy who bumped into me. I recalled the girl calling for this boy. His name, was it "Ness?"

The girl spoke again but towards me. "I'm sorry about my friend here. He's a real dummy most of the time."

"Who're you calling a dummy?" The boy reached his hand to try and grab the girl's hair, but then she made a run for it. "Oh heck no!" Then he started chasing after her, with their other friend following. I only watched the boy named Ness run towards the school door. I still couldn't get over my thoughts on him. Why did I feel so different?

"Lucas!" I heard from Claus. He, Ninten and Loid came up to me. "You okay, bro?"

"Um, yeah, I'm fine."

"Yeah, sorry about that, Ness can sometimes be a klutz," commented Ninten.

"Ness?" I questioned.

"That guy who bumped into you. His name is 'Ness.'"

"Oh, okay," I took it into mind.

"Well come on, let's go meet the principal already," Claus said. He led the three of us as I still kept my mind on about that certain person. I don't know why, but it felt like he was unique in a way. Yes, that one person.

That one boy. His name was Ness.

* * *

><p><strong>Lenne<strong>: oh look a fateful meeting. Woooo.

So yeah. We have Ninten, Ana, Ness, Paula, Jeff, Tony, and others of the Mother worlds joining the school. That's right, even the amazing Kumatora is in school. OH GOSH SPOILERS -stabs self-

Anyways, Ninten is 13, so is Loid, and Ana, so they're a grade below Ness, Lucas, and Claus. Lucas/Claus and Ness are both 14, assuming that Lucas' and Claus' birthday is April 20 (the story begins in May). Jeff and Paula are 14, and whatever else you do to make your **✧***IMAGINATION***✧** go wild.

And yeah! The surprise pairing is ClausXNinten for those not informed yet. Finally I include a different pairing, and it's exactly the reverse of NessXLucas! Claus is the seme by the way-/shot


	3. Getting Classes

**Lenne**: I really want to get to the fun parts already. Oh well! It'll come soon.

Oh yeah I have projects to do so... ...I really want the next chapters out as much as you guys. But really. I just hate school. I'll be working on them bit by bit though~

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><p><span>Chapter 3: Getting Classes<span>

Ninten, Claus and I said our temporary farewell to Loid as he walked on ahead to his class. Ninten showed us to the school front office, which was in the foyer of the school. I looked to my side, watching other students walk pass us, talking to each other, staring at their path, and sometimes giving looks, meaning they were curious about Claus and myself. Ninten led us in and we met a secretary at the computer. She had brown, curly hair down to her shoulders, with a bodily figure.

"Oh?" she remarked, just noticing us. She rolled a bit back from her desk and crossed her hands together in her lap. "Good morning Ninten," she said in a friendly voice, "what are you doing here?" Despite her out-of-shape figure, she had a friendly voice, similar to Miss Teresa's, but more light and smooth.

"We got two new students, so I'm showing them around."

"Well that's nice of you." She looked at us. "My name is Mrs. Baez, and I'm the secretary here at E.B. Junior High."

"Nice to meet you," Claus said, lifting a hand. "I'm Claus, and this is my brother Lucas." I weakly lifted my hand with a shy smile.

Mrs. Baez gave us another of her friendly smile. "Well, the principal isn't here right now, so you can't really meet her. But, we can start you getting into your classes. Ninten, can you show them to Mrs. Flynn?"

Ninten responded without reluctance. "Of course!" He began to walk to our left, which was a small hallway leading to other rooms of this office. He walked unusual than before, though. He walked without any smooth motion; he lifted his feet and arms firmly and lightly pressed them on the ground, taking little steps on his path. Claus and I both looked feeling bizarre.

Mrs. Baez chuckled and then told us something. "Ninten is always playful when he's in here. He's like a little kid."

Ninten rushed back up and stuck his head behind the wall that blocked him. "I'm not a kid!" Then he looked at my brother. "Ain't that right, Clausy?"

"I told you it's not Clausy!" he responded. He put his hand on his face in disappointment, making Mrs. Baez and I laugh.

With playtime aside, Mrs. Baez told us good luck in our new environment as we walked away from her. Ninten led us to the end of the hall, which was a gray door in front of us, and then a door to our left which led back to the foyer near the glass doors leading to the main hallways. I saw a label on the wall saying "Counselor's Office", and the same label again to the door on my right. Ninten peeked through the glass in the center of the door, seeing what he expected, and knocked on the door before opening it. The three of us entered, and we entered. Inside, there was a woman with short, blonde hair, who was sitting at her seemingly untouched, maple wood desk now looking at us after hearing Ninten's knocks. She gave Ninten a smile, and then looked at us.

"Well good morning, Ninten. And who are these two? I've never seen them before."

"They're new students, starting today. I'm showing them around, and we were wondering if you can get them their classes today."

"Well sure. But I need their parents to come, though."

"They can't come," Claus said. "Our dad doesn't get back from work until five, and our mom can't come here because we only have one car."

"Then that's a problem. School ends at 3:25 and most of us leave at around four. Well…you already came though…" she sat there, putting her head on her hands with a thinking face. Then she looked at us again. "…Oh! What are your names?"

"I'm Claus, and my brother here is Lucas." I just stood there, staring at the scene.

"Ah, that's right. Your father and mother already registered you ahead of time. You're those twins of theirs." She got back onto her computer to a desk on her right and began typing. "Please, sit," she said. "You can stay too, Ninten."

Ninten sat in one of the two vintage chairs behind the two beside the desk that Claus and I took. We sat there, unaware of each other's feelings. I was a bit scared, meeting new people so suddenly, but of course, it was imminent now that I was in a new school. I was still wondering how Claus looked like he was calm about all this still.

"Let's see. You can start today…" then we heard a beep. A beep from somewhere. Claus and I looked around, wondering where it came from, but we saw Ninten just smirking at us. After about ten seconds, we heard a melody ring through the room.

"That's the bell, by the way," said the counselor. "There's a ten second warning before the actual bell rings. It's pretty neat," she said. She resumed typing and clicking, until another idea popped in her head. "Oh, I forgot! I'm Mrs. Flynn by the way."

I didn't know what to think of her. The way she just brought that up after telling us information about something unrelated to an introductory made her look a bit dense. She was still, however, as I usually judged, a nice woman.

"Okay then. Let's get started," she said. She pulled out two pieces of paper from her desk drawer and gave them to us. We examined it, finding it was a paper informing of the available and required courses here.

"These are the courses required to take during junior high," she said, pointing to one of the charts on my paper, "and this one shows the ones available here."

Claus and I studied it carefully. Everyone was required to take all three years, from sixth to eighth grade, of the basic four core subjects: English, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Of course, that was just basic knowledge. Other than that, everyone needed at least a fine arts credit and two elective credits. We saw the available elective classes were Art, Spanish 1, Technology Systems, Choir, Band, Theatre, Health, and Speech. The only classes that appealed to me were Art and Health, while I knew Claus liked the sound of Technology Systems. I loved to draw, and I even have a sketchbook of drawings that I have with me right now. I was curious to learn about daily health, so it was also a choice. As for Claus, he was of course, an avid video gamer, but he also liked to learn anything related to computers, since it eventually led him to playing a video game on the computer.

"P.E. is mandatory, so it isn't a choice here. But you can pick two more classes here. There is also, Office Assistant, which is to help the secretary and the others in the office. Ninten is one, so he can tell you what it's like."

"That's right," he said. I was wondering how it felt like Ninten knew Mrs. Baez and Mrs. Flynn already. "An office assistant is just doing basic jobs for the secretary. I deliver early dismissal passes to a student in a class, sort the mail, deliver packages, do some filing, all that stuff."

An easy 'class', I thought. "Could I take Art and Office Assistant then?" I asked.

Mrs. Flynn didn't bother to hesitate. "Sure. Let me see if I can put you with Ninten, too. What about you, Claus?"

Claus took one last look at the list. "I want Tech. Systems and Choir."

Choir? I thought Claus would have picked a simpler class like Health or Speech, and maybe even Theatre, since he could act well when playing sick in bed, or telling a tall tale to mom and dad. I guess Claus wanted to try something new.

"Okay then. Do you boys want Pre-AP classes?" We both nodded. Both of us were smart, and we took pre-AP classes back at Tazmilly as well. They didn't even felt pre-advanced anyways, so we hoped it was nearly the same or more fun here in E.B. Junior High.

Mrs. Flynn returned to her computer and began clicking and typing again. Claus and I waited there in silence, sometimes giving each other nervous glances. I was a bit glad, though. I already met a good friend, Ninten, and two nice adults.

And then the image of that one boy appeared into my head. I remembered his name was Ness. I still couldn't figure out why I felt so weird when I was near him. And having the thought was almost the same feeling…just what is going on with me? Could it be that…

My thoughts were cut off when Mrs. Flynn exclaimed "Okay!" She rolled away and put her legs back under her work desk. "Ninten, can you go get their schedules from the printer?"

"Sure!" Ninten got up and walked out the door.

"So," Mrs. Flynn said. "We have three scheduled lunches, A, B, and C lunches. You both have B lunch, which is right after 5th period."

"Okay then. Is there anything else?" asked Claus.

"Nothing really. If you have questions or want to change classes, then come back to me."

At that moment, Ninten returned with two green sheets of paper and gave them to us. "Clausy! Lucas! You both have B lunch just like me!"

I saw Claus let a subtle sigh fly by before he reached for his paper. I think he was going to hear more 'Clausy" from Ninten now.

Ninten gave me my paper and I looked at it. First period was P.E., and Claus had the same. We had the next class, which was English, together as well. Then we split up: I had, in order, Social Studies, Math, Art, then lunch, then Office Assistant, and then Science. Claus had Tech. Systems, Choir, Science, then lunch, then Math, and finally Social Studies. We only had two classes together instead of five like before.

"Well, it's a bit into first period, so you could still get some P.E., though I don't know if you have gym clothes right now. I'm sure the coaches will let you off for a couple of days until then since you both are new." Mrs. Flynn grabbed three yellow small slips and wrote our names on it. They were hall passes. She gave them to the three of us. "Ninten, you can show them around during lunch if you want to. Oh, and show them where the cafeteria and their classes are."

"Okie-dokie!" Ninten began walking out the door in his firm, penguin like motion. Before Claus and I left as well, we both said thank you, and Mrs. Flynn also told us good luck on our first day. We said good-bye to Mrs. Baez on the way out, even though I know I'll be seeing her again.

Ninten first led us to the cafeteria. It was actually in a different building. We had to walk outside the side doors of the school, and then walk on the concrete path to the cafeteria doors ahead of us where there was a small stone platform where people could sit. The area wasn't so secluded, as light was still shining from the open sky above and from our right, where we could see the parking lot of cars. Inside the cafeteria, there was no one but a custodian and some lunch ladies, checking on the tables and wandering around the lunch line area. There wasn't anything else interesting, other than the stage with dark green curtains. We left the cafeteria and back into the main school halls.

Ninten then showed us to our classes. From where we entered from the cafeteria path, a door to our left was the technology systems class, which was Claus' 3rd period. There was a showcase next to the door, full of model airplanes and a constructed mini-car. Claus commented that there's more than he expected. Across from the technology class were two doors distanced from each other. They both led to the choir room, and then Ninten commented he had choir as well, so Claus had to expect meeting him later.

Our core subject classes were in the 8th grade hallway, because we both were of course, in 8th grade. Then we found out Ninten was in 7th grade, so he was in the next grade hall. Next to the 7th grade hall were two doors, and peeking through the glass windows, we found a large basketball court, meaning it was the gym. But no one was inside. Ninten then predicted that they were outside for P.E. today. We entered the room and headed across the basketball court to the doors leading to outside, where the path led to the grass, and then to two fields: a baseball field, where there were already baseball players, and the rest of the P.E. class in the track field, walking the black rocky ground or playing soccer in the grass. Ninten led us to the two adults at the entrance of the track field.

"Oh, Ninten," said the welcoming-toned woman. "Why're you late?"

"We got new students today, so I was showing these two around, and this is their first period."

"Let me see their schedules," said the other adult, who was a man. His voice was not so deep or friendly ether, so I expected he was more of the "cool" coach. Claus and I gave him our schedules. He looked at them, and passed it to the woman.

"They're yours," he said. The woman looked at the schedules, and then gave them back to us.

"All right then, I'm Coach Fletcher," she said.

Then the man spoke. "I'm Coach Dine." He gave out his hand, and shook it with Claus who seemed excited about it, while I felt a bit nervous feeling that my handshake was firm.

Coach Fletcher spoke to us. "Listen, you need to bring some gym clothes by next week. It's required that you dress up every day. Just change clothes in the locker room and you get your grade as a hundred for the day. Each day you don't dress up, you lose five points. But anyways, we don't require like, hard physical exercise. You can do whatever you want. If you want to walk the track like these guys," she waved her arm at the track, "when we choose to go outside, then go ahead, or if you want to sit in the bleachers on dodgeball day, you can do that too. You just gotta do something at least three times a week."

Claus and I left our worries knowing that we didn't have to do much for P.E. Claus probably didn't care, but I did. I was never the athletic type, nor did I have interest in any kind of physical work. I preferred leisure or easy exercise.

"Well, you can just sit by the cage for now, since you're new. Or you can walk the track, whatever you want."

Claus and I sat beside the cage away from the black track ground. Then, Ninten sat beside Claus.

"Why're you still here?" asked Claus.

"Because I have P.E. with you guys too, Clausy."

"Ugh," groaned Claus. I guess the school year is going to be tortuous for him from now on.

I put down my backpack and pulled out my sketchbook. I opened it, seeing that the first picture was just an amateur drawing of my brother. He still liked it, though, and said I had talent. The motivation led me to the second page, where I drew simple patterns of sunflowers. Then it kept on for many more pages until a bit before the half mark. I pulled the pencil out of the spiral of the book, and set my pencil lightly, hoping the magic touch would give me an idea. I had no thought, so I just stared at the grass, then the school, and then the baseball field of players. The players were all wearing not too light green uniforms with white and thin red striped sleeves. It looked like they were dressing up for Christmas, but they all wore different colored hats. One was wearing the team's hat, green bill with the rest white and thinly red, and another was wearing a yellow one with a green bill. What made me drop my pencil in the grass was one person wearing a red hat with a blue bill. I tried to make out the figure. It was him.

"Lucas, what're you staring at?" asked Claus. I pointed at the baseball players, then Ninten found what I was looking at.

"Oh, him," he said. "Yeah, Ness is a baseball player. He's the best of the school, to be honest. In fact, he's captain of the team."

"Huh…" was all I said. I tried to be less obvious by turning my head to the track, and then once the other two began talking, I put my focus back on Ness. He looked so cool in his hitting stance with his wooden baseball bat, awaiting the pitcher to throw the ball. I could see a grin, like he was enjoying the current game. Having to see him like this… appealed to me again. My heart was skipping some beats once more.

But then it hit me. I knew what to draw next. Sadly, I only finished the clouds by the time the baseball coach over at the other field called the team in to get ready to leave. Then, a few minutes later, our coaches called us to go inside. It was almost time for second period, which was English class for my brother and myself.


	4. Bullies

**Lenne**: Moo is all I have to say.

Warning, some violence. Not that gore-like violence, just the average fighting type of violence. Nothing too serious. Okay I shut up.

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><p><span>Chapter 4: Bullies<span>

Claus and I both went to English class after we said our temporary good-bye to Ninten. English class was decent. The teacher, however, surprised me a bit. She had mainly brown with dark red highlights in her bun-styled hair, wearing an atypical blue glass patterned dress. When she talked, she had a tone similar to coach Dine, so I already knew that she was an entertaining teacher, and loves people who just stand out, since she was surprised meeting us. When she made us introduce ourselves to the class, she kept a constant neutral face, and then when we finished, she turned it into a smile, and communicated with the class about us, especially about our unusual everyday hairstyle. She mostly liked Claus' hair, probably because the orange gave an appealing touch. We learned the teacher's name was Ms. Bryant.

Claus and I split up for third period, but we both agreed that the first person to reach the stone bench before the cafeteria will wait for the other. I continued through the day with Social Studies and Math. They were also decent, just with less amusing teachers than Ms. Bryant.

I was anticipating for Art during math, because I was wondering how it was like. I followed my math teacher's directions to the art classroom, which was in the hallway of the doors to the cafeteria, just a door down from Claus' technology class. I met the kind teacher, with gray hair, meaning she was nearing or was already at old age. Today, the art class was working the final day for their paper sculptures, where they just modeled a figure out of clay and glued newspaper on it. Then, they painted it with whatever color they want. Because I was never there for the two weeks, Mrs. Beranek, the teacher, allowed me to draw in my sketchbook.

I sat in a seat away from most of the others, nearing a couple of people painting white color on a goose-like structure. I took my pencil and resumed my drawing. I began sketching the cage, and then began to start the grassy ground with part of it cut off for the plain sand and dirt used in baseball. I made every stroke as perfect as I could, constantly erasing results I didn't want in the first place. When Mrs. Beranek looked over my shoulder, she wanted to look at my previous drawings. She too, commented on how good I was as a sketcher. Once she gave back my sketchbook, I immediately returned to drawing. I began and finished with the shoe, and was starting part of the leg sleeves…until the bell rang.

I left the room as quickly as I could, and went outside the doors. Once I took a seat on the stone bench, the people from art class passed by me, talking with each other or focusing on reaching the cafeteria door. Then came more people, but mostly everyone who had B lunch came from the sides. I guess there were doors hidden by the walls over there too. I waited to see Claus' face at the door of the window. I only kept my eyes on it, hoping for Claus to hurry up.

I also was waiting for that one boy. I kept my eyes closed, dreaming, hoping that if anybody else came by through the doors wouldn't notice my weirdness. But then something snapped me out.

"Hey, kid!"

The back of my shirt was tugged on, and then I was pulled to the side. I fell and tumbled over, thankful that my backpack broke some of the pain. But I returned to all seriousness and focused on who rudely tugged me over.

Three boys, who were slightly taller than me, were staring at me with evil smirks on them. Their eyes told that they wanted to play, but not in the meaning of friendly recess. They wanted to beat me up for some reason. They were bullies for sure.

"What're you doing on our bench?" said the boy with brown, short devil lock hair. I could tell he was the one who pulled me.

I lied there in silence. I didn't want to answer, since I would expect "shut up" or some insult or joke about my reason.

"Not gonna talk, huh?" he reacted. He bobbed his head at his two friends, one with black hair that was almost like my cowlick, and another with lighter brown hair that was combed to his right side. My backpack slipped off as they pulled me up and held me against the brick pillar near the stone bench. They stared at me with their entertained smiles, and then came their leader, putting his hand on his hip.

"What do you got to say now?" he said bluntly.

I still didn't respond. I only hoped that someone would notice this scene already. Where were the other kids who were going to lunch? Was it already long enough that all B lunch kids arrived at the cafeteria? I needed help. I couldn't fight back at all. I can't.

"Hmph, fine." He looked at the boy on my left, the black haired one. "Get his hair."

He used his other hand and pulled on my hair, making me whimper and grind my teeth to prevent my groan from being loud.

"Well kid," he said. "Better start apologizing or you're gonna get hurt."

The hair pulling was already painful. "F-Fine…I'm…" then I saw somebody in the corner of my eye. I didn't know how he managed to open the door without the bullies knowing. He grabbed the leader and shoved it into the guy on my right and once my hair puller noticed, he was punched in the face, hard.

"C-Claus! What're you…" I started,

"Saving you, duh," he replied with a smile.

That wasn't what I meant. Mom already said many times that violence was not the best way to deal with bullies, as things get more violent. He should have known that already.

"Ugh…" said the bullies' leader. "Why you…!" He got up and tackled Claus, but he held his ground. In the end, they were both pulling on each other's shirt collars, staring at each other with evil glares. Then the hallway door opened loudly.

"STOP IT!" shouted the woman. "Let go of each other, now!"

Claus let go first, and then the other boy did as well.

"You all," she commanded strictly while waving a finger at us, "come with me." She opened the door for Claus and the three bullies as they walked into the hallway. I stood there, hoping she didn't mistake me for being the bully instead of the bullied. We all didn't know what she saw.

"You too," she said to me. But instead, she had a grin. Perhaps she knew I was the victim, or maybe she was being nice about it thinking that I must have been confused. I picked up my backpack and stepped inside, trying to keep my distance from the bullies and the woman, leaving me walking next to Claus, who looked annoyed.

I already disliked my first day of school.


	5. Principal Zamora

**Lenne**: Yo. I wanted to get this here before I leave for a week of a bit of busy schoolwork. So enjoy~

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><p><span>Chapter 5: Principal Zamora<span>

The woman that stopped the bullies and Claus from fighting was principal Zamora. I couldn't believe we had already made our first impression on the principal already, and it was horrible thanks to Claus.

Claus and the bullies entered the office. I followed them too, but the principal told me in her friendly tone to stay outside, sitting in the wooden bench next to the door. I didn't know if I should feel scared or be hopeful that I won't be in trouble. Maybe she's a considerate lady, so she should listen to our story and believe it. But principals are usually so surprising.

I looked through the window and saw Claus and the other three stop before principal Zamora, telling Mrs. Baez something. I saw her nod, and then picked up the phone. Then Claus and the bullies followed the principal to a door close by in the office.

I turned my head back, finding the foyer back in my sight. There was no one else but me here. I waited as if I was waiting for a miracle to reverse time. But all I received was pure silence within this room. I could hear nothing but my mind. What did the principal say? Who did Mrs. Baez call? Where was Ninten when I thought I had needed him? Is Claus okay? And what am I doing here?

I received a silence from an invisible being. I sighed, letting out my worries, and then pulled out my sketchbook. It was better to finish something than do nothing.

I began making many strokes on the pants sleeve, and when I made a final rough sketch, I erased the parts I didn't want and added the finishing touches. Soon, for the past minutes, I had a fine completion of the pants, and all that was left was shading behind the pants.

I wanted to make quick scratches that would make the figure's shadow on this piece of paper. But all my previous worries came back to me. The questions filled my head once again, erasing the dream of the product of my work. I set my sketchbook down, wanting to cry. My eyes began to water, but it wasn't enough to let a single tear drop on my work.

I hate it here. I was already in trouble on the first day of school, thanks to Claus. Everything was dandy before we had moved. I was never disciplined, and Claus didn't stir trouble after a while. Now it was ruined.

Something woke me up; it was the front door. It creaked loudly as it was pulled open by someone. I was hearing a whistling tune, a song that I didn't know about, but had an upbeat-like melody. It stopped though, as well as the person's footsteps.

"Hey…there," it said. I recognized the voice.

I looked up. There he was. He walked up to me with a cheerful grin on his face, keeping his hands in his pockets. The aura around him made me feel like I was safe again.

"You're…the guy I bumped into earlier."

I stared at him, my mouth slightly open. Then I had realized he commented. "O-Oh, yeah. You did."

He sat down next to me. "Yeah, sorry again. I was just playing with my friend, and I didn't realize I was going to bump into you."

I felt I left a little pink flush on my cheeks from his innocent apology. "It's fine." I gave him back a grin, and he replied with the same face.

"I'm Ness. You?" he held out his hand.

"Lucas." I was glad he finally got to know my name.

"Nice to meet you, Lucas." He stared at me, but then averted his eyes to my lap. "What'cha got there?" He already grabbed it. I didn't want to take it back so suddenly and freak him out, so I let him have it. I only hoped he wouldn't discover the finalization of my latest piece.

He took a look at the current page I was on—the sketch of him. He didn't say anything; he let his eyes wander on the page, studying at my work. Then he flipped through the previous pages without a word. He let out a little noise in amazement at the first two drawings.

"Wow Lucas…you're a good artist. I mean, I've seen some of the artwork from the school, but this…it's amazing."

His comment tickled my heart. "T-Thanks."

Then he flipped back to the latest page. "What's this one going to be?" I could tell from his tone that he didn't know what it would be. I didn't want to say anything, so I let out an "um".

"Nah, I'll wait until it's done. Tell me when you finish it, okay?"

"Okay." We both smiled at each other. Then, from the corner of my eye peeking through the office window, I saw the door open. The three bullies were leaving the room, and then sat on the bench inside the office next to the front door, resting their heads on their hands. I turned my head away, so I wouldn't get evil glares. The only person that didn't exit from the room was Claus. Where was he?

The door shut again and Mrs. Baez watched the three delinquents sit silently in boredom. I looked at Ness, he was looking at the bullies too, and then to me when I turned to him.

"Did you get in trouble with those three?" he asked.

"I…yeah," I replied.

"Oh sheesh. They're always picking on people." Ness let out a worried sigh, then placed a hand on my shoulder. "Come to me if they bother you again, okay?"

"O-Okay," I responded quickly. It left me wondering, though, would Ness really protect me? Actually, I preferred I want him to protect me for some reason.

Ness looked ahead of him, glancing at the analog clock hung on the wall. "Oh dang, lunch is almost over. I'll see you another time, maybe!" Ness got up and hurried through the doors into the rest of the building. I stared at his back, hoping he would turn around again and give me his smile.

I still can't say what I was feeling about him.

The office door suddenly opened, and out came Claus with principal Zamora. I stood up quickly from the sudden crunching door handle.

"What happened?" I asked frantically.

"Relax," said the principal with an assuring tone. "We called your mother, telling her what happened. Then she scolded your brother here. But you both aren't in trouble, no worries."

"O-Okay…" I looked at Claus, and he was staring at the floor, trying to rid his irritation.

Principal Zamora looked at the clock and put her hands on her hips. "Well, lunch is almost over. I'll grab you both some snacks. Sorry for the trouble." She opened the door and walked the path to her office. I looked at Claus, and he changed his sight to me.

"Are you okay, Claus?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just hated mom scolding me again."

"Well you wouldn't get a scolding if you hadn't punched that guy…"

"Did you want to get beat up again?"

I cringed a little bit when he said 'again.' "N-No."

"Okay, then you should be thankful," he said with a smirk.

I sighed softly, then smiling. "Fine, thanks."

Claus walked over and wrapped his arm around my neck, patting my shoulder a couple of times. "No problem, bro."

The doors to the hallway opened again, and out came Ninten. He stopped when he saw both of us. Claus let go of me and stared at him as well.

"Clausy!" Ninten exclaimed, running towards Claus.

"Oh sh…" Claus mumbled. Ninten grabbed Claus and wrapped his arms around him.

"Wh-hey!" reacted my brother. He struggled to push Ninten off. "I thought I said enough with Clausy, and don't hug me again!"

"But it was funny in choir!"

"Doesn't mean you can do it here!"

"Aw come on!" I saw Ninten squeezing harder, trying to cling onto Claus.

Claus began to try harder, but now with a smile. "Get off!"

"No!" Ninten responded with a chuckle.

I stared at the both of them. It looked like they were a good couple, making me chuckle at the thought.

The office door opened again, and out came the principal with a curious face.

"…Ninten, what are you doing?"

Ninten let go and turned himself to the adult. "Oh hi Miss Zamora! I'm just playing with Clausy."

"It's not Clausy!"

"…I don't want to know," responded the principal. She turned to us and then gave us both a bag of cookies and potato chips. "It's all I have."

"Aw, they get snacks?" Ninten reacted.

"They didn't eat, so yes they do," replied Miss Zamora.

"What about me?"

"Well, get in there and you might get one."

"Okay!" Ninten headed to the door and opened it, walking on inside. The principal looked at us once again.

"You two enjoy the rest of the day now. But stay out of trouble, I don't want you both getting in a mess again, got it?"

We both responded. "Yes."

"Good, I'll see you both another time now." Miss Zamora walked on away and left the foyer through the hallway doors.

Claus sighed, looking at his two bags of snacks, and then at a yellow piece of paper in his right hand, which was a pass to class. "Well, I gotta head off to math. You stay here, right?"

"Yeah." I remembered I had office assistant, for whatever period this was right now, with Ninten.

"I'll see you after school then. See ya, bro."

"See you," I replied weakly. Claus walked on away to the hallway, and I turned to enter the office door. As I walked on inside, I had just remembered the three bullies were still here. When I glanced over at them, I saw six cold eyes chilling my soul. I looked away quickly, and walked around the counter into the secretary work area.

"Look, Lucas!" Ninten said, standing next to a wooden shelf. "Mrs. Baez already made you a badge!" He held a laminated light green piece of paper with my name on it, with white yarn poking through the two holes in the card to act as a necklace.

"You have to wear that when you work here, so the teachers know who you are and what you're doing now," Mrs. Baez added in her sweet tone.

I took the hanging yarn and put my head through the hole. I picked up my badge and stared at it. It said "Lucas – 6th Period." Then, the phone on Mrs. Baez's desk rang. She picked it up.

"Hello?" she said. "Oh, sure, sure." She pulled a stack of small white slips from the side on her desk, and grabbed a pen. "Name?" She began stroking a name on the paper with the pen in her hand. "Got it. I'll send someone to get him." Mrs. Baez put up the phone and resumed writing on the paper, and then tore it out from the stack.

"Do one of you want to go to the P.E. room and get someone for an early dismissal?"

"Oh, let Lucas have it as his first job," commented Ninten.

Mrs. Baez looked at me with a smile. "Sure, why not?" I took the paper and looked at it. It said "Early Dismissal For: Andy Armstrong."

"Do you know where the gym is?" asked Mrs. Baez.

"Yes," I replied.

"Just walk on down there and give the pass to the teacher, and they'll get the student. It's simple."

"Got it."

I walked to the door, trying to ignore the bullies there, and exited the office. I stared at the slip again, and then headed to the doors.

I had a feeling office assistant was a good choice as a filler class.

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><p><strong>P.S. <strong>Next chapter will have the start of some more relationship with Ness and Lucas~ OH YEAH, I'M MAKING YOU ANTICIPATE IT. Enjoy the wait.


	6. Chemistry With Ness

**Lenne: **I really hate school. I get homework over Christmas break, wut?

Anyways, sorry for the lack of updates, again, really busy, even though I told you guys I was going to be frequent with the stories. So the flow is unpredictable now, But as the new chapters come by, please enjoy!

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><p><span>Chapter 6: Chemistry With Ness<span>

6th period flew by with ease. I had no problems at all: Ninten and Mrs. Baez showed me around the office and the nurse and the other counselor other than Mrs. Flynn. Then, an assistant principal, Mr. Hughes, entered and saw me as a new face, and welcomed me nicely. He had come in the office with a man and a woman, each a parent for two of the bullies that had come to pick them up for a week of suspension. Minutes later, the third parent—another woman who had a gentle toned voice and fine manners—had arrived for the leader of the bullies. I couldn't understand why a kind woman like her would have a misbehaved child. Regardless, I sat in the office, chatting with a playful Ninten and a sweet Mrs. Baez until a job came by for me, and until the bell had rung.

I left the office, asking Ninten what to do after our final class ended.

"Just go to the front of the school and find our bus," he replied.

"How do I know which bus takes me home?"

"Oh, our bus number is 0680. Look on the side of the bus to find the number." He jumped up a bit to keep his backpack from falling off. "Well, I gotta go. I'll see you later!"

He turned around and quickly left to his class into the crowd of people walking in the halls. I wondered if he was thinking, "Hey, don't forget to tell Clausy!" I left the thought behind as I walked into the crowd as well, to my science class.

At the door, I met a man, who had an almost bald head except for the gray hair circling around him, with a noticeable gap on the front. He gave me the same question and reaction of "I've never seen you before, are you new?" I gave him my schedule and welcomed me in, and told me to stand by his desk so he can place a spot for me.

I waited, watching people come in the room, most of them giving a quick glance at the never-seen-before student. I was forced to accept the glimpses at me, unable to tell if they were friendly or rude.

The minute warning bell rang, and most of the room was filled. But I saw a table with two familiar faces. The black table housed the heads of the blonde haired girl and boy with glasses I saw this morning, with another black haired boy across from the other boy, who I have never seen. He had a weird face, and wore full white shirt and pants that resemble the design style of regular jeans. He must have loved the color white.

"Thirty seconds!" yelled Mr. Louth, as I had assumed from a teacher's brass name label on his desk. He must have been warning the other students to hurry.

I looked at the room again. The room looked almost full, with tables covered with science equipment. The only seats left were the seat next to the boy with the glasses I had remembered, and an unoccupied table next to them.

I believed Mr. Louth would have placed me as the fourth person in that trio group, but I was wrong. The last person came in with quick pants, hanging his head down and shutting his eyes from weariness.

I couldn't believe it.

He looked up and saw my face. "Oh, it's you," he said in amazement.

"Hi Ness…" I responded shyly.

He breathed again, and walked closer to me. "I didn't think you'd be in my class," he said, and then returned to panting.

"Well…here I am." He saw my small grin, and smiled back.

The bell rang once more, finalizing the end of the passing period. Mr. Louth closed the door and looked at us.

"Take your seat, Ness," he commanded nicely.

"Okay," responded Ness. He walked over to the table of the trio and set his backpack down next to the table leg, and sat next to the blonde boy.

"All right guys, we have a new student. His name is Lucas, be nice to him."

I thought I would speak first. "Hi…" I said, again shyly.

"Hi!" said all of the girls, and some boys.

"I love your hairstyle," said a brown haired girl sitting at a table in front of me.

"Yeah, it looks cool," said another girl. I could tell they were serious.

"O-Oh, thanks," I responded.

"Okay Lucas," said Mr. Louth, "take the table next to Ness."

He pointed over to where Ness was. I wanted to tell him he didn't need to point, because I already knew Ness, who was smiling at me as I walked by. He held his hand up when I got close, and I slapped it lightly, giving him back my smile.

"All right guys," said Mr. Louth. "Today we're going to be making the ice cream—"

Some of the students cheered like they had expected this day.

Mr. Louth chuckled, and then he continued. "Okay, you all need to be in groups of two only, and you all are even today because we have a new student, so no groups of three." Some commotion started, beginning the talking about being in partners.

I felt guilty as he said "because we have a new student," since I didn't know if some people wanted to be in threesomes. I just sat there, trying to watch for people who would turn their head at me.

"Okay, guys," Mr. Louth said again, loudly. "The bags and ice are up here at my desk," I looked over at the long structure of a black counter to his right, "grab them when I give you one and then head over to a station and just follow the instructions on the paper on your table, and when you finish and enjoy the treat, answer the three questions in your notebook. And, you may go!"

People began to stand up, but the four next to me sat there. Their voices were loud enough for me to listen in on.

"So, are we partners again, Ness?" asked the blonde boy.

"Then I guess it's me and Poo," said the girl. I presumed Poo was the white-clothed boy.

"Actually, is it okay if I get a different partner?" replied Ness.

"Who're you going to get?" said Poo, as I had assumed.

"Lucas." He turned around and smile with me. I stared at him, looking like I was already aware of what he was going to ask. "Wanna be partners?"

"Sure," I replied.

"Then what about me?" asked the other boy.

"Jeff, you could go get Nancy, it doesn't look like she's going to be with Barry," said the girl.

Jeff, who I now took his name into mind, placed his hands lightly yet in a firm stance on the table, leaning over slightly to mouth softer words, which I tried to read as "But what about you-know-what?"

"Think of it this way: you can spend more time with her, so you might get better chances! And you can answer her questions too, you know she may not be certain of them," stated the girl.

Ness already stood up and took one of the two sheets on his table, and walked up to me. "Well?" he said. I got up too, and walked with him to the teacher's counter of supplies. We grabbed what was given—a small Ziploc bag of milk and another larger one of ice blocks—and headed to a station placed in the classroom, which was the one at the other side of the room. Ness looked at the paper, and I looked over as well, reading the instructions.

"All right," Ness spoke, "first, pour two spoons of salt in the bag of ice, spreading them." We both looked at the two beakers, both holding white crystals, one larger one with the label of "salt" and the other of a lesser size, "sugar." He scooped two spoons and sprinkled the grains into his bag, and then he scooped another portion, but instead, waited for me to open mine. I did as so, and then he poured the salt in. We sealed the bags and set them down.

Ness grabbed the sheet again. "Next, add ½ teaspoon vanilla to the bag with milk, and then two spoons of sugar." he said. I took the small container, which said vanilla extract as the label, and opened it. With my other hand, I grabbed a small white spoon which was sitting on a small plastic

"How much is half a teaspoon on here?" I asked.

Ness looked at the instructions again. "The paper says the full spoon is already equal."

"Okay." I filled the spoon up and Ness opened my bag first. I poured the vanilla in, and placed the spoon on the folded paper towel.

"Okay, then add the sugar." I grabbed the spoon in the other beaker and scooped the white crystals, then I poured the grains in my bag and he sealed it, leaving the sugar to dissolve. Once he placed mine down, he grabbed his bag and I poured the vanilla and sugar in.

"Next, place the milk bag into the ice bag and shake for five minutes or until frozen as satisfied." We both did as told, already noticing the shaking sounds performed by other people in the room. We joined in the noise making, feeling the extreme chill of the ice in contact with our hands.

Two minutes already into the shaking, Ness groaned from his cold skin. "My hands are going to die!"

I could only chuckle, trying to resist the pain that I was feeling as well. We continued shaking the bags up and down, side to side, and in any way possible. We also heard another announcement from Mr. Louth. "When you're done, come up here for a spoon!"

As soon as we felt five minutes already passed, we opened our bags and removed the milk bag. It was no longer milk. The contents felt like wet sand. We opened the bags and looked inside. We made ice cream in a bag.

"Wow, how does this work?" Ness asked.

"The ice froze the milk, I guess."

"Okay, let's go get a spoon." We began to walk towards the teacher's desk, until I heard loud footsteps.

Then they bumped into me.

"_My ice cream bag…"_

"BOYS!" shouted Mr. Louth, stopping everyone else's shaking. "Get out, now." His firm voice did not allow them to retaliate; the two boys took their bags with them and exited the room.

The teacher sighed heavily, and then looked over at the mess on the floor. "Someone hand me the paper towels there, please." A girl hurried over to grab the roll and handed it to the teacher. "Thank you," he said, calmer, and then walked towards us.

I wanted to punch those two boys, but I wouldn't, because I can't, and I could never. I only stared at my spilled bag. All of it was tossed over onto the floor.

"Sorry Lucas. I can't make any more for you."

I stared at him sadly in silence as he wiped the floor. I didn't notice Ness grab two spoons until he hurried back to me.

"Hey Lucas, we can share."

I stared at him. Did he really offer that?

"Really?"

"Yeah. If you're okay with it." He held the second spoon at me. I grabbed it and then watched Mr. Louth throw the mess away.

"Oscar, can you go over there and dry the mess? I gotta deal with the two outside."

The boy he spoke to nodded and took the paper towel roll and headed on over to us. I ignored everything else but Ness. He opened his bag and held out to me, giving me the first scoop. I shaved off a piece and tasted it.

"How is it?"

It was not like regular store-bought ice cream. It tasted better.

"Great," I said. We each took turns taking pieces of ice cream, still leaving me wondering about two things. One, I questioned if he was a person who didn't mind the myth about germs on contact of things made by others. Secondly, I pondered still about my view on him. Having to see him so kind like this—to even me, a new person he hasn't met before—it's astonishing.

We both were talking to each other about how my school day was so far. Once I had mentioned Claus, he brought up the fact that he was in the same choir class with him, which left me a bit surprised, and then he explained to me the fun detail that Ninten, who was also in the class, clung onto him from behind as he was being introduced by the teacher. We conversed for so long that class ended sooner than we had thought. The final bell tolled after the warning beep, bewildering the both of us. Mr. Louth made a quick announcement before anyone went to grab their belongings. "Okay guys, if you didn't answer the questions, do them first thing tomorrow!"

Everyone else left first as Ness was finishing off the last bit of dregs left in the ice cream bag.

"See you on the bus, Ness," said the blonde haired girl who walked by.

"See ya, Paula." I took in note of her name also. Ness hurried over to trash the bag and went over to grab his belongings at his table. I quickly grabbed mine and went up to him before he resumed walking. I walked near him as we exited the door, heading towards the direction of the main hall.

"Hey, Ness," I said.

"Yeah?"

"Uh…thanks for sharing your ice cream with me."

"Hey, it's no problem," he responded with another smile. I couldn't help but think I was blushing. Maybe I did, and hopefully he didn't see it.

"You take the bus home?" he asked.

"Yeah, with my brother."

"Oh, I take the bus too. Which one do you ride?"

"I ride 0680," I recalled.

"That one? You're two blocks away from me?"

"I am?"

"Where do you live?"

"On…" What did my dad say it was again? Ah. "Sunny Lane."

"Yeah, you're pretty close to me."

"Do you take the bus too?"

"Yeah, a different one though, since the one I get on is closer to my house than yours probably."

We continued walking, close to stepping on the main hall tiles. Then we turned and headed towards the front doors, where everyone else was heading through. Ness spoke again as we went through the first doors.

"Hey, do you think I can come over? I wanna see what your house is like."

"Sure…when?"

"Is tomorrow after school okay?" I noted tomorrow was Friday.

"I can ask my dad, but I think you can come over."

"Great!" he exclaimed. We continued walking, saying nothing else. Just ahead of me, I noticed my twin brother leaning against the wall next to the rightmost door. He hurried up to me.

"You took your time," he said playfully, then wrapped his arm around my neck. I struggled away to have him let go of me.

"Hey Claus," Ness said.

"Heya. Did you both have seventh together?"

"Yeah, we had science."

Claus placed his hand on my head, like I was his toy little brother. "Was he being good?"

"Of course I was good!" I grabbed his arm, but then he pulled away quickly, leaving the both of us chuckling. The three of us continued walking out towards the school gates, slightly speeding our paces. I saw our bus number, and we stopped there. Then Ness stopped and faced me.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said. He extended his hand to me, wanting a handshake. I willingly put my hand out too, grabbing his hand, but we did no shaking, yet the contact had enough spark to bond our friendship. He turned around and hurried on over down the sidewalk and stepped into a bus.

Claus stepped onto the bus first and took the first seat. I was still standing outside on the hard ground, staring at the direction Ness was in. I breathed, took my one step onto the bus, and sighed. I repeated the very small scene of our handshake, now finalizing the feelings I had.

Maybe I'm in love with that one boy.


	7. Another Day With Ness

**Lenne**: Finally I get to this story.

So, we have a cameo. It's not of the three Mother games though. It's the fourth Mother game.

But anyways, enjoy!

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 7: Another Day With Ness<span>

The day we got home, Mom scolded Claus again for his act towards the bullies at school. After he shrugged it off and got to sitting in his bean bag chair in front of the TV, I asked Mom and Dad if Ness could come over. They were already surprised I made a friend who wanted to play with me, so they agreed with it.

That night, we discussed how our school day was. I included Claus being tackled by Ninten, of course, and then he playfully punched my face for adding in the detail. Everything about our day was explained, including Ness, which I described as athletic and kind. Dad's work was doing fine. He got a job as a car technician, which was much easier than being an animal herder back in Tazmilly. Mom was doing fine alone at home, though she wished Dad would call at least once while at work.

That night, I climbed into bed with calm thoughts. Maybe my life in Onett isn't going to be so bad after all.

First Period: Claus and I brought our gym clothes we used at our school back in Tazmilly. I was still feeling awkward with changing with other boys in the locker room. I had that curious side of wanting to know what the other boys wear what kind of underwear, but I resisted peeking for even half a second and focused on looking at the black box. Later, we were informed today was a free day, so we could do whatever we want. Most of everyone wanted to go outside, and we did. Claus went out to play soccer with the other boys on the field, leaving me to be the twin brother in a yellow shirt and green shorts sitting by the cage. But, I didn't let my relaxation go to waste, and resumed my drawing Ness, who was playing baseball again with his friends in the field from afar.

Fifth Period: In Art class, I was still the student who was not in the previous weeks in the school to start sculptures, leaving me to be free again in drawing. By the end of the period, I finished the body, leaving the bat left, his face which needed my most extreme care, and the finishing touches of shading and extra scratches.

Lunch: It turns out I had lunch with not only Claus, but also with Ninten and Ness, as well as his friend Jeff, and Jeff's best friend, Tony. Until we had arrived, it was only the four of them, but now the group became chattier with the addition of twin students. I sat next to Ness, with his two friends in front of us. Ninten still named Claus his fun nickname, so Claus decided to sit next to Ninten to flick his forehead every time he heard "Clausy."

Sixth Period: Normal as it was yesterday. I obtained two early dismissal jobs, and when I returned, Mrs. Baez, Ninten, and I talked for the remaining period as soon as there were no interruptions caused by the phone or a parent coming in. However, two peculiar people came into the office.

"Hey Mrs. Baez!" exclaimed a pink haired girl entering the office. She was surely taller than us, and by that height, I was surprised I never noticed her walking in the hallways yesterday. She wore a blue top and a blue skirt, which looked like they were connected to each other, but a thin yellow belt separated them at the waist. There was also a boy with her, who had brown hair down to the top of his neck, and his face told me he looked like he was a normal, yet energetic kid. What struck me more was the girl's pink hair. Did the school code allow that?

"Oh, Kumatora!" said Mrs. Baez. "What'cha need?"

The girl named Kumatora replied, "I'm fine. I'm here to escort this guy."

"Oh okay. What do you need, sweetie?"

The boy looked neutral there, but the older girl behind him patted his back, whispering "go on!"

"Uhm, I was wondering if I can also be a student assistant here," he said. His voice wasn't so deep. It was sort of like Claus' tone.

"Oh, well you will need to talk to the counselor. But what period do you have right now?"

"I'm in C Lunch right now," he responded.

"Ah okay. What's your name?" Mrs. Baez got on her computer, readying her fingers.

"My name's Travis." Mrs. Baez would usually ask for a last name, but she didn't this time. I guess there was only one Travis in the school.

"Hmm…" she hummed. "You have good grades. Yeah! You can try being a student assistant. Just ask the counselor first."

"Okay." Travis walked down the hall with Kumatora into the direction of the counselor's office.

"Who was that girl?" I asked Mrs. Baez.

"Oh, that's Kumatora. She was my student assistant last year when she was in 7th grade."

"She looks a bit old to be in 8th, now," commented Ninten.

"Oh, that's because she started school late. She's seventeen now."

Both of our mouths fell agape. "Seventeen?"

"Yeah. Surprising, huh?"

"Definitely," replied Ninten.

We sat there in silence afterwards, though Ninten showed me the items that were in the drawer in front of him. We played around with the paper clips, twisting and bending them, until we heard the door at the end of the office hall open. Ninten leaned over, and then turned his head at me, mouthing "they're coming."

Kumatora and Travis stood by the door, looking at Mrs. Baez. "Mrs. Baez! He's working with you now in fifth period."

"Fifth?"

"Yeah."

"Okay! I'll make a badge for you by then. It's Travis, right?"

"Yes," he replied.

"All right then. I'll see you both tomorrow.

"See you!" exclaimed Kumatora.

"Bye," said Travis.

In my final thought, I could tell those two are definitely peculiar like Claus, Ninten, and me.

* * *

><p>Seventh Period: Mr. Louth handed all of us a worksheet of questions based on the previous experiments they had done for the week. Because I wasn't here, Ness offered his assistance to help me understand what I wasn't here for. I appreciated his kindness, even though most of his answers were copied off from his friend Jeff.<p>

After school, I said my "see you later" to Ness and got on the bus with Claus. I was certain of my words, because I know he will be visiting us.

Back at home, I stayed outside playing with Boney in the front yard, giving him the usual to fetch the ball or run around in the grass. Claus eventually joined in, but when he pinned me down, Boney chased him off, and then it became the game of chase, where Claus was running for his life to not be tackled by a playful Boney and me.

By the time Boney and I pinned down Claus on the grass, who was wailing to get away from us, someone appeared on the sidewalk, staring at us.

"Uh?" he mumbled.

"Ness!" I exclaimed. Claus threw me off as soon as I weakened my muscles, leaving Boney to jump off and run to my side, then he kneeled back, growling and staring at Ness with unease. Ness stepped back once he saw Boney looking unfriendly.

"It's okay Boney, he's a friend," I said as I patted his head. He sat down and was in his normal stare, saying "Okay."

Ness walked on over and crouched down. He extended his hand, and once he saw Boney do nothing, he extended it further to pet his head. Boney gladly accepted his gesture, and I could tell he already likes Ness.

"I have a dog too," remarked Ness. "You should meet him."

Boney barked softly, "Sure."

Ness stood up and then gave me his hand and helped me up. At that moment, Claus falsely cleared his throat, "Ahem."

"Oh, hi Claus," responded Ness.

"Well then," he said, now standing and brushing himself. He turned around and walked towards the house. "Feel free to come in."

"Come on," I eagerly said, smiling. Boney went on ahead and rushed into the house, circling on the carpet to amuse himself as he waited for Ness and I to enter. Once we did, Ness' mouth fell open.

"Wow…" he commented. "Your house is huger than I thought."

"Isn't it? Go ahead and take a look around!" I followed him as he explored our house. He first noticed our large TV, with the three bean bag chairs in front of it. He had then went upstairs and looked in our rooms. He commented once he saw my room.

"Your rooms are plain," he said.

"We just got here," I told. "We haven't had time to decorate."

We continued downstairs on the other side, ending up where Claus and Mom are.

"Our friend is here," Claus said to Mom.

"Oh?" She turned around from washing dishes and looked at us. "Welcome, Ness, is it?"

"Yes," he responded. "Nice to meet you." He leaned his head forward a bit, being polite in his gesture.

"Please, enjoy your stay," Mom said, "and don't be afraid to ask for anything."

"Okay." Ness resumed walking down the stairs and I followed. He checked the kitchen, having no comment about it. Though, I thought it looked great: the dining table just a meter or so away from the burnished counters and stove, and everything next to each other, organized neatly.

Ness turned his head to our backdoor. He immediately rushed to the door, placing his hands on the glass barrier.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed. "You guys have a pool?"

"Yeah, we haven't tried it yet," stated Claus.

"You boys can go in if you want," Mom said. "The weather is nice right now. Though, I don't know if you can go in, Ness."

Claus got out of the chair and looked at me. "Lucas, don't you have a spare swimsuit?"

Ah, that's right. I had two swimsuits—one for me, and the other just in case my first one becomes lost, or too worn out, or some other situation. "Yeah, I do," I said. I looked at Ness, grinning. "Want to swim?"

"Heck yeah!" he replied. Claus and I rushed up the stairs, with Ness immediately following. We both ran into our rooms and grabbed our swim trunks. I had a plain, red one that extended down to an inch above my knees. The spare, I gave to Ness, which was in the same fashion but in blue color, which I thought to have fit him. He placed it over himself to see if it would fit him. We both agreed that the size was okay.

"You can change in the bathroom," I said, trying to find a towel in my closet.

"Where is it?"

"Next door on your left." He exited and closed the door. Once I had found a yellow towel, I got up and locked the door. I began undressing, but before I took off my pants, I looked down at myself. I felt like I was somewhat average, with a bit of chubbiness. And once I took off my shorts, my thoughts drifted to the image of Ness. I just remembered he was next door, undressing right now. What was his body like? I was sure it was slim, or maybe because he's so athletic, he could have a fine body—smooth, tan, maybe even some muscles. I blushed deeply at the mental image, but immediately resumed to undressing. I stared at my underwear before I took them off. What kind of underwear does Ness wear? Most likely nothing like my briefs. Maybe he's a boxer guy, like all the other "cool" boys in school. It would be pretty fantastic to get a sight of what he was wearing…

Wait, what am I thinking!

I shook off all my thoughts and quickly got into my swimsuit. I threw my towel over my bare shoulder and exited my room. Claus was leaning against the wall next to the door, waiting for me. He was in turquoise trunks, his obvious favorite color, with a white towel wrapped around his neck.

"Where's Ness?" he asked, peeking into my room.

"In the bathroom," I answered.

"Oh, well I'm going on ahead." He turned around and walked away. I was a bit annoyed at him getting a head start. I wanted to shout, "No fair!" at him.

I stood next to the bathroom door, waiting for Ness. Shortly, the doorknob began to twist, and then the door opened. He walked out, and I couldn't believe what I saw.

Ness was of course in blue shorts, but what amazed me was his body. It looked so average, somewhat tan, and slightly muscular like I almost imagined. It was so…attractive. His upper body just looked so amazing.

I guess I could call him, _sexy_.

"Lucas?" he said. I snapped out of my daydream immediately.

"Oh, sorry," I said, blushing. I hope he didn't notice what I was feeling right now.

"I, uh…need a towel."

"Oh, right," I said, trying to stray off. I immediately went into my room and fumbled through my closet for another towel. I found one immediately, a light blue one at that, and tossed it to Ness, who was just standing at the entrance. He put it over his shoulder and smiled.

"Well, let's go!" he exclaimed. We both went downstairs, stopping to see Boney pawing on the door.

"Want to go outside, Boney?" I asked him. He barked back happily. I opened the door for the three of us. Boney immediately rushed to get to Claus, who was putting on sunscreen on himself, while Ness and I followed. I took the sunscreen that Claus had put down and squeezed out an amount for myself, and then gave it to Ness. I rubbed the cream all over my body as I heard Claus jumping into the pool already. I averted my eyes to Ness as he was putting the sunscreen on himself. I couldn't get enough of him. The sight of his body, my goodness, was it ever so sexy. I wish I could be the one putting it on him, so I could feel how smooth it was.

I quickly turned around and looked at Claus, who was floating on his back. "The water's great!" he commented. I dipped my toe in the water to feel the temperature. It wasn't cold, rather, warm and relaxing. I immediately jumped in, splashing water on the ground and on Claus. I surfaced quickly and shook out my hair.

"It is great!" I exclaimed in agreement. I looked over to Ness, who was just standing on the ground, looking at us. He was ready to jump in. And, he did.

SPLASH!

I had to use my arm to cover my face. The impact was as large as mine. Ness emerged quickly and shook out his hair, giving a contented smile. He looked at both of us, with a surprised expression. "You two look completely different."

He was right. Claus and I had long hair that was combed up with some hair gel that made our hair look natural. When wet and let loose, our hair falls down to the top of our neck.

I looked at Ness' hair. It wasn't any different than it was when dry, other than it just sticking to his head, so I couldn't make a comeback. I just smiled shyly.

The three of us played in the pool, splashing water at each other and throwing a beach ball. Boney soon entered the water and chased after us, so we played a game of "get away from Boney." The day continued onwards from there, but thirty minutes felt like several hours, so we all decided to get out of the water. Claus went ahead and entered the house with Boney. I sat on the edge of the pool, just wanting to enjoy the warmth of the water more.

Then I got pushed into the water.

I didn't hold a breath for the moment, so I had to immediately surface. I looked over at Ness, who was smirking at me.

"That was mean!" I exclaimed at him, although, I was smiling. He jumped in and surfaced, just a foot away from me.

"What're you going to do about it?" he said, sounding amused.

I slapped water at his face. I laughed when he took the hit so surprised.

"Oh, you're getting it now." He swam for me, reaching for my arm as I tried to swim away, but he was faster than me. I was grabbed and then pushed down, but thankfully I held a breath. I struggled out his arms and pushed on his shoulders, lifting me up and slightly pushing him down. But, as a counterattack, he pulled me down and kept me down with him.

Underwater, I just did nothing. We both smirked at each other, wanting to laugh, but we couldn't so as to not take in water. His hands were kept on my shoulders, trying to hold onto me and keep me down. It turned into a battle of who could hold their breath the longest.

I surrendered in seconds and flailed off Ness' hands to reach for the surface. I gasped and panted, and soon, Ness emerged and mimicked my action.

"I win!" he exclaimed. I said nothing else and accepted defeat.

* * *

><p>It was nearing six o' clock, and Ness had to leave. I stood next to him on the grass out on the front yard with Boney, having our last bit of small talk.<p>

"Well, that was pretty fun," Ness said. "I gotta come over more. I really like swimming."

"Then why don't you be on a swim team?" I suggested.

"Well, I like baseball more," he replied. "Oh! Speaking of which…" he reached for something in the back of his shorts pocket. He pulled out a small green flyer and extended it to me.

"I have baseball game tomorrow, and I was wondering if you wanted to come."

I took the paper with my fingers, pinching at it and stared. It said "EarthBound Juniors VS StarMan Juniors." I assumed EarthBound was the full name of E.B. Junior High, because Ness' uniform symbol and colors matched the sphere of the earth on the flyer. I was thinking, "should I go and see this guy play baseball for real?" Definitely.

"Sure, I'd like to go. Where and when, though?"

"Oh, it's at a park nearby, and it starts at eleven. But I could come by before ten and walk with you to there, if you don't mind."

"Not at all!" I quickly replied. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Great! I'll see you then."

It sounded like a date. A date with Ness, huh? No, no daydreaming right now. I smiled back at Ness, "Got it!"

He turned around and began to walk away, but he turned around after being meters away and waved at me. I waved back happily, leaving Boney to bark at him. He turned around after seeing us respond. I watched him walk away, now dreaming about tomorrow. I would absolutely love it if he said I was his special guest, or maybe he would give me a special up close seat.

Whatever it was, I couldn't wait for tomorrow.

* * *

><p><strong>Lenne<strong>: Lucas is totally gonna be more...well, not so innocent, just an FYI. He will just love daydreaming about his sexy Nesu-kun.

**Lucas**: I don't call him sexy Nesu-kun! ...yet.

**Lenne**: （╯°□°）╯ HEY. Go back to the cookie table and wait for the next chapter.

**Lucas: **Okay ._.

**Lenne**: So in case anyone does not notice, Travis is the cameo. Go Google if you don't know. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ


	8. My First Baseball Game

**Lenne**: LOL look how long it has been since the last update. Oh wait you can't since I just updated, gah D:

Well 4 months of nothing is pretty something, huh? Also, I wanna mention that there's a small change near the end of Chapter 7 if anyone has not noticed yet, I suggest you read it first before you start.

Also I have no baseball knowledge so correct me if needed about whatever, hurpdaderp.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 8: My First Baseball Game<span>

"Lucas, Lucas."

I woke up to Claus' voice. He was shaking my arm back and forth until I slapped him away.

"What is it?" I said as I rubbed my eyes.

"Ness is here."

"Really?" I was shocked by that statement, because I thought I woke up late. But taking look at my alarm clock, it was only 9:37. He arrived earlier than he said.

Both of us went downstairs, still in our pajamas, and found Ness sitting on a green recliner.

"You're early," I mentioned.

"Yeah, I wanted just some extra time for my team to practice. Think you can get ready soon?"

I nodded, "Sure!" I immediately went back upstairs and tugged out a red shirt with denim shorts, and my shoes. I undressed and redressed quickly and headed to the bathroom to wash my face, brush my teeth, and fix my hair. I also grabbed my sketchbook bag, in case I had free time at the game. When I was all ready to go, I rushed down the hall and reached the end of the small balcony. Up here, I could see Ness talking to Claus.

"Has Ninten ever been that clingy to anyone?" Claus asked.

"Not that I've seen," Ness giggled. "Maybe he thinks you're unique."

Claus scratched the back of his head. "I just don't want people to think of us the wrong way."

"What do you mean?"

I arrived downstairs and interrupted their chat. "Oh, hey!" Ness responded. "Good to go?"

I nodded with a happy hum.

"Did you eat?" Claus said. I shook my head. I forgot out of all the excitement I needed something to eat for energy. "Mom and dad are still asleep, so there's nothing but cereal for now."

"I don't want cereal though, it'll take a while."

"Well you better eat something!"

"Hey," Ness interrupted. "We have some breakfast at the park. I can get you something. That okay?"

I nodded, thankful of his kindness. "Yeah, that's fine."

"Well, let's go."

Claus opened the door for us as we walked towards the door. I stopped in front of him before I could exit the house. "Take care of things while I'm gone, okay?"

"Yeah yeah, go have fun." He playfully pushed me, making walk out. I gave him one more smile before we waved at me. Boney suddenly appeared by the door and barked at us, also wishing us to have fun. Ness and I turned and walked on the path opposite of the bus stop. I stared at the stretching neighborhood as we walked.

It had been only some meters since we left. Trekking just a little behind him, I kept beside Ness as he led me to the park that I did not know the location of. Things were silent as we walked. I wanted to bring up something so I wouldn't feel awkward around him. I wasn't so sure what he was feeling, but all I saw on his face was a happy smile as he walked with a hand in his pocket. His free left arm was gently waving like a weak pendulum. The free arm urged me to take hold of his hand, or cling to his arm. I dreamt about the romantic scene until Ness broke my thoughts.

"So, ever been to a baseball game before?" he asked.

"Not really. This'll be the first time I'll get to watch one," I replied.

"You don't have baseball where you're from?" He sounded a bit surprised.

"We do, but I don't really stop by to watch often," I responded.

"Well then, you're going to like our games," he stated. "Our games are so intense! We get a lot of people too, and best of all, we win every time!"

"Why's that?" I curiously asked.

"Because I'm on the team," he bragged. Both of us chuckled, agreeing with the fact. "No, really! I'm a pro at baseball."

"Can't wait to see," I mentioned.

We turned after skipping a couple ofl blocks in our walk. Up ahead, I could already see something vastly large. As houses stopped appearing to my left and right, a great green field with dirt tracks and pebbles beyond them filled three square areas. There was a picnic area, a playground, and lastly, a large field for a sport along with a long stretch of metal bleachers, which already had several people settled to watch the baseball players in the same colored uniform as Ness' tossing a ball back and forth at each other.

Once we arrived nearer the center of the field, the first person to notice us was a boy who yelled out Ness' name. Everyone else turned to look and run up to us. They stopped in front of him, but their eyes immediately landed on me.

"Who's this?" asked a player with shaggy brown hair.

"Oh, this is Lucas. He's a friend of mine who just moved here. He's gonna watch us play."

"Nice to meet you!" said a short kid.

"Hey there!" said another player.

I weakly lifted my hand up, shy of the new faces. "Hi," I responded.

"So, how's practice? And where's coach?" Ness asked.

"Coach left to go do something. He said don't start the pitch practices without him or you here," replied one player.

"Well that's no good!" exclaimed Ness. "You gotta give it your best, during practice, and whether I'm here or not. Go get on the field!"

His voice was amazingly strict that the players immediately responded and scurried to the baseball field. Ness sighed and turned to me. "Ah, right, let's get you something to eat first." I nodded and followed him to a caged seating area. Right next to it was another caged area, left with numerous green-billed caps with the picture of the earth on it, so I could tell the area was for the baseball players of E.B. Junior High.

"You can watch the game from here. This place is for our V.I.P. guests," Ness stated. I felt special when he said that. Our relationship was so good that he considered me V.I.P. I grinned at the thought.

"We also keep breakfast here," Ness continued. There were two iceboxes, one red and one green, next to the back wall of the area. He opened the red one and I peeked over. There were large amounts of granola bars, yogurt bars, and cereal bars. "Grab as many as you want," he said.

"Really?" I was grateful for the all-you-can-eat offer, but I decided to take two yogurt bars. I immediately began tearing one open.

"Trash is over there," he said, pointing to a bin in corner of the wall, "and I gotta go practice now. Will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine," I replied.

"Won't get bored or anything?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I probably won't get bored watching you guys."

"Whatever then," Ness responded with a smile. He ran next door to grab a baseball glove and headed out into the field with his team.

I watched him hurry towards the pitcher's mound, where his team cheered for his arrival. The baseball players were looking at Ness, nodding, and then scattered all over the field. My eyes only remained on Ness, who set his bat down and warmed up his arm and hands. He had a sharp look towards two of his friends at the home plate. I could see a faint grin on his face before he readied himself. With a baseball in his right hand, he took a step back, raised his arms, and made an unbelievable throw.

He threw the ball, of course, but it was at a speed I couldn't comprehend. Even the batter didn't attempt to swing; he turned around after hearing the crash that landed in the catcher's gloves.

When I got the next two glimpses of Ness' next two pitches, I fell in love with his athletic abilities.

Pitch after pitch, Ness didn't allow the ball to get hit by the bat. His throwing speed was so amazing. The batters did try to hit the ball, but there was none who had even scraped it.

"Come on!" Ness yelled, "Y'all can do better! Switch places!"

Ness threw his glove at a player walking towards him, and then picked up his bat. He slapped his team mate's hand as they walked by. Ness kept a happy grin as he arrived at home plate.

Everyone was in position. Ness was now the batter, holding a shining, silver bat that he had a tight grip on. He was staring at the pitcher, who was prepared to throw the ball. I kept a close eye on the sphere in his hands, and then watched it become thrown. It went at a fast, yet slower speed than Ness' pitch. With that, a loud bang echoed around the world.

The ball was sent flying high and beyond the outfield. The farthest player had to run much just to catch the ball that repeatedly bounced high up and down.

"Woo!" howled a player nearby. "Always on fire!"

"Loud like thunder!" yelled another.

Ness kept his sights on his team, who were all walking towards the player with the ball. He kept a smiling face. He looked like he was having a lot of fun.

He turned his head to me and waved. I waved back, also giving a shy smile.

* * *

><p>The StarMan Juniors arrived via a bus and entered the field with pride. Most of Ness' team replied with a competitive face. I could see Ness being the only one eager to get out and play already.<p>

As they shook hands and went in different directions, the StarMan Juniors were first to bat. As I sat, some of the players, an amount from both sides, caught sight of me and stared for a few seconds as they walked. I felt awkward and guilty of something, but I couldn't reject their glances. Of course, I was a new kid that nobody really knew yet.

The game continued on. A StarMan player was out with three strikes already, but after the next player's second strike was when they could get a hit, a weak one at that. Ness was fortunate to get the ball as soon as possible and throw it at first base. As I continued to watch the game, the audience's cheers erupted louder as the teams switched sides.

When the E.B. players came to the box next door, they stared at me, still surprised because I was someone that nobody else on the team had met yet. I had secretly heard the coach ask one of the members if anybody knew me, and he replied, "Only Ness. No one else really cares."

I ignored the comment made about me and continued to watch the game. After their switch, the StarMans didn't have many points. Those points didn't matter, as always-on-fire and loud-like-thunder Ness began his team with a swing that gave a home-run.

I couldn't help but cheer myself at the hit. It was all too exciting, or maybe it was because I liked seeing Ness play.

As the game continued, I heard two voices approaching the V.I.P. box.

"Mom, I told you we were late!" said a little girl.

"Tracy, we're not that late. See? It's only the beginning, but Ness already has his team in the lead."

"Whateve…hey!" The girl pointed at me. "Someone's sitting in the V.I.P.!"

"Oh?"

When both of them saw I was sitting here, anxiety struck me. I felt like I did something wrong. The young girl rushed up to the box and stood by the door, giving me a questioning stare.

"Who're you?" she asked.

"I-I…I'm…" was all I could get.

"Tracy, be nice," said the woman who came up to her. "Are you Ness' friend?" I nodded.

"I've never seen you before," said the girl named Tracy. "Are you new or something?"

"Well…"

"Hey, hey!" called a familiar voice. During a time-out called by the StarMans, Ness was running over here.

"Ness!" exclaimed Tracy. But as soon as he arrived, she pointed her finger at me. "Who's this?"

"Don't point, that's rude," Ness said as he pushed her arm down. He walked on inside and waved his hand at me. "This is Lucas. He recently moved here."

"Oh, nice to meet you," said the woman. "I'm their mother," she added.

"And I'm Tracy, his sister!" she extended her hand out to me. I awkwardly gave my hand out, and we shook up and down once.

"So, Lucas, are ya enjoying the game?" Ness asked me.

I nodded at him. "You're really great at baseball," I added.

"Heh, of course!" He slightly turned his hat, and then perked up when we all heard a loud whistle.

"Gotta get back!" Ness slipped by his mom and his sister. "Tracy, you better not annoy him!" he yelled as he ran to the field.

As the game resumed, Ness' mother took a seat away from me while Tracy grabbed a cereal bar from the ice box. Then, she sat in the gap between us. As soon as she sat down, though, she examined me up and down, and pointed out my sketchbook.

"What's that?" she asked as she pointed at my belonging.

I unbuckled the silver seal and took it out, opening a couple of pages. "It's my sketchbook, I like to draw," I said.

"Can I see?" Tracy asked. I handed it over.

"Be careful not to ruin it, Tracy," said her mom.

"I won't." She flipped through the first pages. She saw the sunflower field I drew back in Tazmilly, a small area of my town, my favorite bakery, and Boney sleeping. "Why are there two of you?" she asked, stopping at a page with me and Claus.

"That's my twin brother," I replied.

"You have a twin? Cool!" exclaimed Tracy. She continued flipping through the pages, while her mom leaned over to peek.

"You're really talented, Lucas," commented her mother as she stared.

"Thank you," I replied. I turned my head back to the baseball game. I only kept my eyes on Ness. He was just returning to the box next door. He gave me a quick wave, and it was only me since his mom and sister were occupied by my drawings.

"Hey, is this Ness?" asked Ness' mother. I looked down; she stopped on the latest page. Even though it was unfinished, she already recognized the boy standing valiantly with a baseball bat in his hand.

"Y-Yeah," I replied. I tried not to be obvious about my crush.

"What, did he ask you to draw him or something?" Tracy questioned.

'Sure!" I lied. They can't find out my real intentions. I had to play along for now. When they found that the next page was blank, I took the book back and put it in my bag.

"You're really good," Tracy mentioned.

"Thanks," I replied.

Then, Ness shook the cage next door. "You guys doing okay?" he asked.

"We're fine!" replied Tracy. Ness leaned his head to point his eyes at me. I nodded, assuring him that I was fine.

The crowd in the bleachers gave a mix of cheers and boos as the teams began switching sides again.

"Gotta go!" Ness exclaimed as he ran off. I continued laying my eyes on him; his already sweat-drenched top and loose back hair charmed me so much.

"Ness is the best baseball player ever," Tracy mentioned. "No one has ever beaten the E.B. Juniors because of him."

I smiled at that fact. "I see."

* * *

><p>Time went by faster than I had expected. The game had ended, and it was already known that the EarthBound Juniors would come out as the victor. Everyone cheered on as Ness was lifted up by his team. When he was brought down, his mom and sister got up and began rushing towards him. I joined in their walk as well, wanting to congratulate him on his victory. With all the excitement happening at the moment, I wanted to start running and hug him. And I began to do so.<p>

But something stopped me in my tracks. Despair with a hint of rage swelled up within my chest as I just stood there, watching. A brown haired girl had came running and hugged him.

* * *

><p><strong>Lenne: <strong>Oh look! Lucas has a rival!

**Lucas: **（ T _ T )

**Lenne**: Oh shush you know how it's going to end!

Anyways, I plan to get the next chapter up soon. It's a little short, that's probably why. For now, just leave a cookiew/revookie to motivate me!


	9. Ninten's Secret

**Lenne**: Boo.

Next chapter sooner than you thought, huh?

**7/15/2012 10:05 PM**

**Small change near the end.**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 9: Ninten's Secret<span>

I didn't know what to do. It felt like my life was taken away from me in an instant.

Everyone else who befriended Ness stood around him, congratulating his skills. Even that girl was blabbing her mouth all over Ness, and he only stood there, smiling.

I was the only one standing on the border of the field, and not wanting to become noticed, I just ran away.

I stopped after I got a few feet on the sidewalk. I had to take control of myself, and not let what had just happened change me. But what could I do? It always hurts to see someone that you love become taken by someone else. Tears began to well up within me and found their way to my eyes. Little bits of sadness began to water in my eyes. I shut them to let small drops flow down my cheeks and kept advancing.

I continued trying to walk away from the field, landing on the other side of the street. As I walked, I was only half-aware of where I was stepping on. My mind was focused on the scene of the girl hugging Ness. Because of that, I didn't wake up until my name was called for the third time.

"Lucas!"

I looked up, trying to find the voice. Behind me was a boy in a red and blue cap, running towards me. But it wasn't Ness. The voice was very familiar, but it wasn't Ness.

"Ninten?"

He waved at me once he caught my attention. "Hiya Lucas!" He stopped and took a look at my face. "Why do you look sad?"

He must have seen that I was red-faced from anger and sadness. "I'm…not," I replied.

"You're lying," he responded, "My lying meter detects it!"

I chuckled at his imagination. "Yeah, you're right. What're you doing here, though?" I asked.

"Oh, I was watching the game," he replied, "I was taking a morning walk nearby, so why not bother?"

"But…how come I didn't see you in the bleachers?"

"Oh, I watch outside the cage. I like being sneaky!" he exclaimed.

His playfulness made me chuckle again. I began to cheer up a bit.

"Wanna come over to my house?" he asked.

It didn't seem like a bad idea. It would give me time away from what I saw, and perhaps Claus wouldn't mind. "Sure, why not?"

"Yay!" he exclaimed, shooting his arms up. He jumped past me and pointed in blank space, "Follow me!"

I did as he told and followed him. Of course, Ninten must have lived nearby my house because he uses the same bus stop. It wouldn't hurt to see what his house was like.

We returned to the street my house was on, but after turning on it, Ninten headed into a house on his immediate right and opened the gate of a white fence. We both walked in and were barked at by a dog in his small house.

"Hi, Mick!" Ninten exclaimed as he waved. The dog hurried over and sat before him. Ninten squatted down and stroked his pet's head. "This is Mick," he said. "The best dog ever!"

I beg to differ, I thought. I crouched next to Ninten and stared at Mick. He responded with a confused look, which I thought was cute.

Ninten got up and led me inside his house. It was a simple house at that. There was a tv and sofa in front of where we entered, and there was one door and an archway to a kitchen to our right, and there were stairs up ahead that went up and made a U-turn entering the floor above us.

A girl was sitting on the sofa, watching a cartoon. She noticed us walking in. "Oh, welcome back, Ninten. Who's this?"

"This is my friend, Lucas," replied Ninten.

"Nice to meet you," she said. "I'd get some snacks but our mom is out shopping since we ran out."

"Just snacks?" Ninten asked. "What about the stuff I need to make my science project?"

"She's buying everything else, don't worry," replied his sister.

We arrived on the second floor and walked straight into Ninten's room. He had a sort of space-themed room: walls and ceiling covered with stars and planets with model rocket ships and paper meteors hanging from above.

When Ninten closed the door, I asked myself, why was I here again? Did Ninten need something from me? Or was it that I just wanted to run away from something? Speaking of which, I wondered how Ness would react when he saw me gone.

"So Lucas," Ninten began as he walked to his bed, "why were you sad?"

I stayed silent. I didn't want to say anything, because I wanted to think about what I was just reminded of.

Ninten reached under his pillow and grabbed something, then tossed it to me. I caught it and stared—it was a bag of chocolate teddy grahams. The dark color of the teddy on the cover reminded me of Ness' dark hair, which reminded me of him, which reminded me of that girl…

"Lucas?" Ninten repeated.

I snapped out of my trance. "Sorry…I, um…"

"If you don't wanna tell me, then it's fine." He walked over to his closet door on my left and went fumbling through it.

I put the snack in my pocket. "It's…Ness," I said, hoping he would care. Ninten popped his head out of the closet and turned to me.

"What about him?"

"Well…you saw the game, right?"

"Yeah, he's the best at baseball!" He turned back into his closet.

"That's not what I meant…um…" Ninten kept digging through the mess on the ground until he found a case of a video game. He set it to the side and went back to rummaging his closet.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'm listening," Ninten said.

I walked closer to him, in case he wouldn't hear what I was about to say. "You saw the whole thing, right?"

"Mmhm, I quit watching after I saw you run away."

"You saw me run away?"

He turned to me, and made a motion with his fingers. "I see _everything,_" he responded, emphasizing his words.

"Then…did you see that girl with Ness?"

"Oh, her?" Ninten stood up. "What about her?"

"Do you know her?"

"Yeah, her name is Leila. She's some girl that's all over Ness like every other girl. But she's popular because she's the cheerleading captain."

"Oh…I see."

"Why ask?" Ninten's face grew to a curious smile.

"Um…" I averted my eyes away to his bed."…can't say."

"Aww, why not? Tell me!" He poked at my elbow repeatedly. He didn't stop poking my elbow even after I pulled it away.

"I can't say, it's a secret," I responded.

"Hmm…" He put his finger on his chin. "How 'bout, I tell you my secret and you tell me yours?"

He seemed determined to learn about my secret. I didn't really feel like arguing for it, so I gave in and agreed to his deal.

"Sure," I replied.

"Okay!" he exclaimed. "So," he pointed to my face, "I like your brother."

I had my suspicions, but I was still surprised. "You like Claus?"

"Mmhm!" he hummed with a nod. He lowered his finger and crossed his hands together, looking down at my shoes and acting like a shy boy. "I don't know what, but there's just something about him that I like. I can't put my finger on it…but he really impresses me."

"Is that why you've been teasing him in school?" I asked.

"Yeah, I guess all I've been really doing is bothering him. But I don't know what else to do. He's the first guy I ever liked."

I could tell Ninten was as ignorant around crushes as I was.

"So…does he like me back?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," I replied, "but I could ask him."

"No!" Ninten exclaimed, grabbing my arm.

"Fine, I won't," I said with a smile. "But I think Claus could give you a chance if you tried. You just have to be nicer to him."

"Right," he agreed. He let go and put his hands behind him. "Sooo," he sang, "what's your secret?"

I went silent for a bit, staring at the floor. "…Promise not to tell?"

"If you promise not to tell mine," he replied.

"Okay…um…" I tried to hide my face as I said it, but it didn't work. Ninten could see I was blushing. "I like Ness."

"I thought so!" he exclaimed.

"Huh?" I was appalled by his claim. "Why?"

"You keep staring at him in P.E.," he said, "and you kept staring at him during the baseball game. I was wondering, 'maybe Lucas likes Ness?' and I was right!"

I scratched the back of my head. My skin felt hot from nervousness and surprise. I never thought Ninten could be so perceptive.

"So, you were asking me about Leila because you got jealous?" he blurted proudly. I nodded, shameful of my emotions. "Ah, don't worry," he said. "Leila and all the other girls go ga-ga over Ness. But Ness doesn't like them back, trust me! I even asked him myself."

My heart floated upwards with hope. "Really?"

"Yeah! Trust me; you don't really have any competition. You just gotta keep trying, like how I will with Claus," he stated with a smile. "Leila might have the popularity, the looks, and all that, but really…" he lowered his voice, "she's such a b…"

I didn't hear what he said. "Such a what?" I asked.

"Ah, don't worry about it," he replied. "Hey! Idea!" He pointed to my face again. "How about you tell me what I want about Claus, and I'll tell you all you want about Ness?"

That was what I just needed to help me get myself better than normal. "Deal!" I replied. We shook hands on it, but suddenly, there was a melody ringing from Ninten's pocket.

"Oh, my phone, hang on." He picked up his silver cellphone from his pocket, and flipped it open. "Hello? Oh, hi! What'cha need? Oh! He's with me. Wanna talk to him?"

Without being informed, Ninten handed his phone to me right after he pressed something on his phone. I put the phone to my ear. "Hello?" I said.

"Lucas?" I heard, loudly. I pulled the phone away from my ear. I saw on the screen that it was set to speaker, which Ninten must have activated before he handed it to me. I looked back at him; he was smiling somewhat evilly.

"Hi Ness," I said to the phone.

"Where have you been?" I heard a worried tone in Ness' voice. "I was worried that you got kidnapped or something!"

"I'm…sorry," I said. "I just…" I didn't know how to finish the sentence. Thankfully, Ness didn't make me.

"Well, it's all right. I'm just glad to know you're safe."

Everything he said so far felt like a subliminal message.

"Don't scare me like that again, okay?" he said.

"O..kay," I whispered.

"All right, I gotta go. I'd ask you if I could come over later to go swimming, but I have to be with the team for today."

I thought that was a perfect chance to make a move. "Oh, well, then could I come over to your house? Tomorrow?"

"Well, sure, but all I've got at my house are video games though."

"That's okay," I said.

"Okay then. Um...I have some small practice tomorrow, but come by the field again around ten. You know how to get there now right? Is that okay?"

"Yeah! It's no problem."

"Great! See you then! Gotta go, bye!" Ness ended the chat immediately. I handed the phone back to Ninten.

"Nice!" Ninten exclaimed. "You got a play date with Ness!"

I chuckled, "Oh, shut up."


	10. A Day At Ness' House

**Lenne**: Almost 2 months since the last chapter. Wow. Sorry to keep ya'll waiting.

Since I have nothing much planned for the next four days I'm going to work on Ch11, hopefully by then I'll at least get half done. I already have a good idea of what it'll become anyways.

Also, there's a small change at the end of Ch9, it connects to the beginning for this chapter. If you don't know what it is, then forget what the change is and enjoy.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 10: A Day At Ness' House<span>

Later that day I left Ninten's home and headed back to my house.

Claus was playing with Boney outside the house, and they both greeted me with a tackle. I had told them about how Ness did in his baseball game. Claus seemed impressed, then he led me inside and we spent the rest of the day playing video games, watching TV or swimming in the pool.

When I went to sleep, I had many dreams about many possible situations that could happen at Ness' house. I would be snuggling up to his neck or he would surprisingly hug me from behind, maybe do something even further. But I shut those lewd thoughts away and fell asleep.

The next day, I woke up early as usual. I cleaned my face up and met mom at the table. Dad wasn't at the table, but Mom had told me that he already left for work. So instead, it was just me. Rather than waiting for Claus, because we both knew he liked sleeping in, she readied a plate of my favorite omelets. As I ate, I had told her I'd be going to the baseball field again to see Ness, and all she said was "have fun."

I walked out the front door in my favorite red and yellow striped shirt, another pair of denim shorts, and my sketchbook pack. Boney woke up from sleeping by the porch and wobbled his tired body towards me. I patted his head, and he wagged his tail, smiling at me and wishing that I would have a great time.

I headed off onto the sidewalk in the direction of the park. Passing by Ninten's house and making the turn when needed, I heard the disordered cheering by a group of youths. Once I arrived by the entrance gate to the field, a team of boys in regular clothing were relaxing in their caged area. One boy, however, exited the area with a baseball on his shoulder, sweating under his black hair covered by a red and blue cap. Wearing a blue and yellow striped shirt, a fashion the same as mine, along with his blue shorts, that one boy walked his way towards me. When he saw me, a smile was put on his face and he hurried his pace.

"Lucas!" he yelled. I gave him a questionable look, and then he chuckled at me. "What, you don't remember me?"

"I remember," I replied with a smug smirk. We laughed at the reply I made. As he passed by to lead me to his home, I caught a sniff of his scent. Sweat. Sweat from hitting and running under the shy sun. Though, it wasn't so strong to be disgusting. Somehow, it was pleasant for me.

The surprising fact about Ness' house was that it was right across the street from the park entrance. We headed inside, meeting Tracy who welcomed Ness back and gave her salutations to me. Then, a dog sitting on the carpet in front of her perked up, coming towards Ness. Ness squatted down and petted him, and told me that his dog's name is King. When I gave him another look, the innocent face of his urged me to pet him as well. Ness' mother entered the room and put on a hospitable grin. Expecting our arrival, she offered us fresh made cookies, which we came into the kitchen to quickly have, and then I followed Ness upstairs to his bedroom.

Upon entering Ness' room, I was surprised by the design of his chamber. The walls were a simple blue and green, the floor was pale like a peach. His bed was gently set next to the window for a view of the baseball field, and his desk and a modern computer placed next to it. A door, which was most certainly a closet, stood silently right next to the desk. Immediately on our left was a TV and a game system with lying controllers, asking to be played with.

Ness headed towards the closet and grabbed a few pieces of clothing, tossing them over his shoulder. "Let me take a quick shower first, that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine," I replied.

He stepped aside and kicked a plastic box out of the closet. "These are all the games I have; you go ahead and choose something." He walked past me and made his way towards the door. "I'll be back quick," he said as he left the room, shutting the door.

I walked on over and sat down, examining all the games he had. There was a lot. All the cases were set, and the game titles stood out like books in a shelf. I began to use my finger to point through each name, until I lifted my head up.

Ness' closet was still open. Various t-shirts hung above on the left, and denim shorts and jeans on the right. There was a white drawer sitting below them. And in one of the slots, I could see a fancy fashion of undergarments.

Knowing my desires to learn more about Ness, I wanted to inch closer and check what he had. And with already just a minute or two passing, I had plenty of time, unless Ness cleans really quickly. I looked back at the door; seeing that it was closed, I crawled over to the drawer.

No, it was wrong, I thought. I shouldn't.

…But I wouldn't have a chance like this again, would I?

I pulled out the top drawer. Inside was Ness' neatly folded underwear: various colors of boxers and boxer briefs.

I squealed in the inside of my mind. I knew Ness would wear this kind of stuff.

Then I remembered Ness was still in the shower. In the shower. In the shower…

I deleted those mental naked images of him and went back to the games. Right before I pulled out a game that I liked, the door opened, and Ness came in with a white t-shirt on and different, yet same-colored shorts.

"So, what'cha wanna play?" he asked as he walked over with a towel around his neck. I held out a game to him.

"How about this one?" I asked. I gave him the game case for "Smashing Slam Brothers Royale."

"Oh, my favorite!" he exclaimed. He sat down and put the disc in the console. I put my sketchbook bag on his bed, then I sat down with him and he gave me a controller. I had already known how to play the game, but it was a matter of skill for who could beat who.

We played for at least three hours. Ness had beaten me multiple times, but there were a few times where I think he purposely let me win. Then, we teamed up against CPUs, and it turned out we had great team work. In the middle of a game, though, Ness' mother knocked on the door. Ness opened it and she poked her head in.

"Sorry to bother," she said, "Lucas, could you come downstairs for a little bit?"

I left Ness in his room for a bit and followed his mom. As Tracy was still watching television, she led me to the kitchen. On the counter were numerous laid out magazines. All of them were opened to a page of tuxedo suits.

"Okay, well, could I have your opinion on what would look good on Ness?" she said. "I'm surprising him with a new suit, and I figured your opinion might be more helpful than someone else's."

I looked at the pictures of suits. "What's the suit for?" I asked.

"For the Spring Dance," she said. I stared at her curiously. "Oh, that's right... you're new to the school. Well, in about four weeks, there's a Spring Dance for the 8th graders. I guess it's like prom for middle school. And well, I'm going to get a new suit for Ness soon, but I can't decide which one looks good enough."

A Spring Dance…four weeks. A limited amount of time to get Ness with me. I laughed on the inside. "Okay," I said. I examined all of the magazines for the sorts of suits. When I imagined Ness in them, not many had fit his style. I didn't think Ness likes all-pink. Dark blue was a little…unique, and why was there even a lime green tuxedo?

In the end, I pointed to the traditional black and white tuxedo. It had fit Ness so perfectly anyways.

"Thank you Lucas," she said. "Would you like another cookie?" I nodded and took a lukewarm cookie from the tray. Then, I took my leave and went back upstairs.

When I entered Ness' room, he was sitting on his bed, looking through my sketchbook.

"What're you doing!" I exclaimed.

"Is this me?" Ness asked. He showed the book at me to the latest page. Last night, I resumed the sketch, though the arms weren't detailed in yet, but the face became well thorough enough to tell who it was.

I walked over and grabbed my book from him. "Maybe," I mumbled. I sat down with him, and then he took my sketchbook in his hands and turned back to the drawing of him.

"You're amazing at drawing," Ness said. "Usually I don't have any interest in art…but this is really cool."

His compliments made me blush. "Thanks," I said.

"Can you show me when you finish this one?" referring to the drawing of him. His smile touched my heart again.

I nodded, "Sure."

He complimented on my skills again, and then we resumed our video gaming. It had been a total of four or five hours. I was already hungry, since normal lunch time passed by. Ness' mother had offered to let me stay and eat, but I decided to go back home.

And the surprising thing was that Ness decided to walk me back home, so he could make sure I got back safely. I declined his proposal at first, but he insisted to come. I rethought about it and let him come, since it also meant more close time together too.

When we were outside my house, he made his goodbye with a fist bump. We both chuckled at the gesture, and then he left, ending our day together with his charming smile.

Back inside the house, I ate a prepared omelet that mom had made for me, and then I hurried upstairs, passing by Claus who was questioning my rush. I set my sketchbook down on my desk, and began drawing, finishing the first drawing of Ness in no time. But I couldn't stop drawing at all. From each page onward it was all about Ness. My hand kept making swift movements until a break at dinner, and continued on until bedtime.

I guess this is what it was like being in love. And I'm happy for it.


	11. Choir Rehearsal

**Lenne**: Ohi guys. I stayed up until like 2 AM finishing this, okay. APPRECIATE IT. Give me a revookie. :c

Ah whatever, enjoy!

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><p><span>Chapter 11: Choir Rehearsal<span>

The day after I came over to his house, I showed him the finished baseball pose of him. He was amazed at the detail and appreciated my work. To surprise him even more, I showed him two more finished sketches. They were simple, half-body drawings of him giving off a friendly grin in two different angles. As his reply, he gave me the same, simple smile.

I spent more time with Ness. I felt like I clung onto him like a lost puppy, but he didn't mind my company at all. In fact, he wanted to be with me for his English project partner, and, he bought me lunch when I forgot my money at home. He asked me lots of questions about my hometown and my family, especially about the fact that Claus and I were twins. He even asked if we had twin telepathy, and we laughed at that joke, because we both knew there was no such thing as psychic powers.

A couple of days have passed since then. It was Thursday, I believe. The day I found out Ninten, Claus, and Ness were really good at singing.

Claus had a choir rehearsal after school for the day. I was curious to hear what Claus' singing ability was like, because I never recalled a moment of hearing him sing before. As for our ride home, Dad was going to pick us up, since his work time ends some time before the choir rehearsal ends, making the arrangements convenient.

After school, I went to the auditorium as Claus said his director instructed. I anticipated seeing Claus' elegant voice or downfall in the rehearsal. I was focused on my path for so much that I didn't see Ness following me.

"Lucas?" he called. I turned around and saw his face, which made me blush a little bit.

"N-Ness?" I replied.

"What?" he stared at me. "Oh, you're coming to watch?"

Right. Ness was in choir with Claus and Ninten. "Oh um...yeah. I guess I almost forgot you were in choir." I nervously scratched the back of my head.

"Well, I am," Ness said as we both began walking inside. "I'm not only a pro at baseball, but I'm also a good singer."

"Really…?" I acted like I was impressed. "Can't wait to hear."

As we walked in, I examined the auditorium. It wasn't so big, but not so small either. All the lights were still on, so I could see a number of other students walking around the stage area and few sitting in the seats. Immediately, a group of girls caught my sight. They sat on the east side in the fifth front row, still close enough to get a good view of the stage. I felt jealousy and anger again because one of the girls was the same girl that was on the baseball field who hugged Ness. I remembered her name was Leila, as Ninten had told me.

I returned my view to Ness' back. I followed him to the middle section of the audience. He entered the second-to-first row and set his backpack on a chair in the middle. Then, he sat down. I was about to set mine down, until he put a hand on the seat.

"Wait, you can't sit here."

"Why not?" I was afraid he didn't want me there.

"Um, the first four rows here are for the Mens' Choir. This is my assigned seat for our concert day."

"Oh, okay…" I was in a sudden panic. I didn't know where to sit. I wanted to sit next to Ness, but I didn't know which seat was reserved or not.

"Oh, you can sit in the west side," Ness said. He got up, taking his backpack along, and gently scooted me out of the row. We entered the second row nearest to the stage on the west side of the audience. In the middle, Ness set down his backpack on a chair next to him as he sat down. I set myself down, with my belongings between my legs.

We relaxed there and made some small chat. Our conversation was interrupted by Ness' ringing cellphone, which he turned away from me to take. I took the time to look around the room again. A man and a woman entered the auditorium from a door on the east side, which I had believed were the choir directors. A couple of girls and a boy was following them up onto the stage with music stands in their hands, and placed them onto the stage. When I took my sights off of them, I glanced at Leila and her group, but then I immediately turned away, because I felt piercing daggers staring at me. I was sure they were jealous of me being so close with Ness.

From the west side doors near us, some boys and a few girls entered. Two of them were easily recognizable. Claus was pushing off Ninten as usual as they walked on in.

"You'll never make me stop calling you Clausy!" Ninten exclaimed.

"You wanna bet?!" Claus had his fist ready above his head.

Their silly fight ended when they saw us. Claus rushed on over and sat on his legs on the chair in front of me. Ninten joined and sat in the same position as Claus in the chair next to him.

By that time, Ness finished his phone call, and turned to the two who just arrived. "Oh, hey there!" Ness and Ninten exchanged a hi-five.

"Nice to see ya, bro," Claus said. He reached out for my head and patted it. I accepted it as usual. Then, Ninten reached his hand out and patted Claus. He immediately brushed his arm away.

"What're you doing?" Claus exclaimed.

"I thought you might have liked it," Ninten said with an innocent smile.

"How do you like this?" Claus reached for Ninten's hair and lightly pulled on it. Ninten struggled to get away, but the small laughter on both of their faces made it a situation they both enjoyed.

"Boys," said a deep voice. Claus and Ninten stopped and looked at the male adult on the stage. "Don't play around." They paused their action and gave each other giddy smiles.

By now, numerous other boys and girls were entering the room and taking seats in the audience or up on the stage helping setup gray platforms. Two girls were pushing a small piano near the center of the stage. The female director was chatting with a large group of girls in what seemed to be their assigned seats.

I drew my attention away and turned to my brother. "So Claus," I began, "how well can you sing?"

"Pretty okay," he replied. "The teachers did a voice testing for me, so I'm a baritone."

"What's that?" I asked.

Ness bumped my arm and answered, "They're singers who can sing both high and low easily."

"Are you one?" I asked Ness.

"Nope," he replied. "I sing mostly low, so I'm a bass. I have no problem singing high when I need to though."

I turned to Ninten, "What about you?"

"I'm a tenor, so I sing high a lot." I could tell it was fit for him because of his carefree and easy-going voice.

"Testing, testing…" a boy was up on stage speaking into one of the microphones. The male director next to him then took the microphone once the boy signaled the mike was okay.

"All right," he began, "I need everyone in their assigned seats for roll call. Then everyone will go to the choir room and get their music, then come back here."

"All right, gotta go," Claus said. He left his seat first, with Ninten following behind.

"Gotta go too," Ness said. He got up and hopped over my belongings in front of me. "Can you watch my stuff for me?"

"Sure," I replied. I tried not to look so eager in answering him, but he gave me back a smile anyways, and went across to the central section into his seat. Claus sat four seats away from Ness, and right next to him was Ninten. I could conclude from this that Ninten must have been near Claus every day, so it was good for him while it was bad for my brother. I didn't know whether to pity or be happy. Instead, I focused on Ness, and he was talking with a few of the boys near him. Then they talked to Claus, and for some reason he was pointed at his hair, and then at me. I nervously waved back when his eyes met mine, and then looked down at my backpack. Once I laid my eyes on it, I remembered I had my sketchbook in there. Since I had no one to talk to right now, I pulled it out of my bag, took my pencil, and began drawing. Currently, I was on a new Ness picture. This time, it included Claus and myself as well. I planned it to have the three of us sitting together on the edge of our house pool, feet in the water, with smiling faces enjoying the warm time. I was in the middle, between my overprotective brother and the energetic, leader-like boy that I loved. Currently, the faces and most of the hair was finished, so I finished off by sketching the hair. Once I was done, I began the bodies.

I felt like a long while passed, but the moment I took a small five-second break to look around, a lined group of boys were stepping onto the stage in an orderly fashion, facing the almost-empty audience with apathetic faces. Ness, Claus, and Ninten were included in the line. They all filled the risers, arranged in three rows. As they were doing that, the immense group of choir girls left the auditorium through the east door, heading somewhere. I set my pencil into the spiral of my sketchbook and laid my eyes on them. All of the boys and the male director had black binders in hands. Once the adult got to the piano in the center, he faced the choir group.

"All right, we'll do a bit of warm up and then we'll start with Red Red Rose," he said. He played on the piano, testing out different resonances.

Red Red Rose…the way he said it was a little fast. Was there such a song like that?

I was left pondering until I heard noises come from the choir group. They made loud and strict noises with their mouths. In a certain melody and speed, all of them sang "Oo-oo-oo" repeatedly, each time going higher in pitch following the director's piano play. After reaching a very high pitch enough to where the tenor section on my right were the only ones singing for five times, they switched to a different melody, "Aa-ahh-aa" but going lower. Each time they sang I tried to focus my ears for Ness and Claus. It was not very clear, but I could hear a hint of Claus' voice ringing in the air. For Ness, it was a little harder, and I couldn't make it out of everyone else's noise. During another high-pitch only part for the tenors, I could easily make out Ninten's high voice. Continuing with their warm ups, they began with "Ooo-ooh-ooo" similar to the first time, but the strings of the sound were slightly longer. This time, after more group singing, the director pointed to one boy and that boy sang the matching tune that was played on the piano. Here, I paid close attention, and waited for the director to point to one of my three friends. He reached Claus first, where he had to sing a moderately high tune. And to my surprise, he sang it with smooth elegance. The director changed the tune again, to a lower key on the piano, and began pointing to lower-toned voices, eventually reaching Ness. What I couldn't believe was that Ness' normal, easy going voice could reach low levels. It sounded like he was a full-grown adult with a changed voice.

I definitely fell in love with the way he sang.

For a short moment, I turned my head to Leila. Their eyes were already set on me, as if they had sensed I was going to glance at them for a moment. Daggers from their eyes tried to stab me, but I immediately looked away, almost a little scared. I pretended innocence in my seat, fiddling my fingers together, but in my mind I could tell she was jealous.

Warm ups for the boys finally ended. The choir director gave his next instruction.

"Okay, open up Red Red Rose, and then we'll just start from the beginning to the end." The boys did as told and opened their binders, flipping through some pages. One boy raised his hand, and the teacher called on him.

"I thought we were going to sing this with the girls today?" he stated.

"We will, but we're doing it separately right now," replied the director.

I adjusted myself in my seat and cleared my ears, waiting for the song to begin. The man played a few keys on the piano, and then after everyone was ready, he began playing a song. The melody was somewhat slow, but in this slow rhythm was a soothing melody. I was completely intrigued, and then I became more interested once I heard the first word of the song.

_Oh my love is like a red, red rose,  
>That's newly sprung in June:<br>Oh my love like the melody,  
>That's sweetly played in tune.<em>

With each word said, my tension of fear eased and disappeared within the echoing tune in the song. I focused on Ness' voice, and alternated my attention with Claus and Ninten. It was not very clear as usual, but I could hear them adding to the grace of the song.

_As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,  
>So deep in love am I;<br>And I will love thee still, my dear,  
>Till the seas run dry.<em>

_Till the seas run dry, my dear,_  
><em>And the rocks melt with the sun;<em>  
><em>And I will love thee still, my dear,<em>  
><em>While the sands o' life shall run.<em>

_And fare-thee-well, my only love_  
><em>And fare-thee-well, a while!<em>  
><em>And I will come again, my love<em>  
><em>Tho' 'twere ten thousand mile!<em>

When the song ended, Leila and her group clapped for the boys. They probably were doing it to make me look bad, I thought. I was about to join the clapping until the director spoke and began his teaching.

All I did was watch the boys repeat the directions they were given: repeat this part, sing this again with more emphasis, make the sound more smoothly, and etc. Each time the bass section sang, I kept my eyes and ears open only on Ness. When the baritones solely sang, I put my attention on Claus. And as for the tenors, Ninten was set in my sight. When all of the boys sang, I let myself relax in the brief moments of singing before halted by an order by the teacher. They only sang the song fully again once the female choir group returned from being somewhere to be shown the progress the boys were currently in. With this, they were just showing off, so it was like a friendly battle between the genders. I simply smiled through everything, silently cheering for everyone's hard work. Then, the girls joined the stage with the boys, and they all sang as a full choir group.

Two hours passed by, and everyone left the stage with happy faces, mainly because rehearsal finally ended. I got up, holding Ness' backpack in my hands and was about to run up to go see him. However, he exited on the east side of the stage, where Leila reached him first. She held his hand, showing off excitement and cheer for him. All I saw Ness doing was moving his mouth as if he was saying "thanks," while scratching his head nervously. After a bit of suck-up praise, or so how I saw it, Leila hugged Ness once more, leaving me to begin imagining ways to destroy this girl. She had then left the auditorium through the east door in a hurry with her girls in happy manners.

Ninten came up to me from behind, giving me a thumbs up. "Go on," he whispered. "Go say that he was great at singing, and stuff." I nodded, and walked up to Ness. He greeted me again with another smile.

"So, what'd ya think?" he asked.

"You're an amazing singer," I replied.

"Told ya." Ness chuckled and gently grabbed his backpack from my arms.

Claus walked up from behind Ness and looked at me suspiciously. "What about me?" he asked.

Ninten appeared on my left shoulder. "You're a great singer too, Clausy!" he exclaimed.

"I wasn't asking you!" Claus pulled Ninten's hair for a moment, and let go before he could get caught by the teachers.

"So, you guys going home now?" Ness asked.

"Yeah," replied Claus, "our dad should be here soon, so we gotta head to the front."

"Okay then, I'll see you guys later. I gotta do some more choir stuff." He clenched his fist and extended it to me. "See you later, Luke," he said.

…Luke? He gave me a nickname!

I bumped my fist with his and said good-bye to him. He left through the east door, following some other choir boys.

Once Claus made sure he was finished with choir business, we both left the auditorium towards the school entrance, with Ninten following us. The three of us sat in the grass by the metal gate, waiting for our dad while watching others leave the school in their rides. Ninten left after five minutes of waiting, poking Claus in the forehead before he could run away into the safety of his mom's car. And so, Claus and I were left alone waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

And waiting.

So far, it's been thirty minutes.

"Where's Dad?" I asked. Claus pulled out his cellphone from his pocket and called him.

"Dad?" Claus began. "Where are you? … … …What? … … …Seriously? … …Ugh. …Fine. … … Eh, don't worry."

"What'd he say?" I asked.

"There was a problem at his workplace, so he has to stay an extra two hours…"

"What?" I almost yelled.

"Yeah, it's stupid." Claus threw his back at the cage loudly, but he didn't flinch from being hurt. I sat by him, holding my knees with my arms.

Up ahead on the walk path, a familiar black-haired favorite friend appeared, walking towards us. He waved at us, but we only kept sitting. He reached us and changed his normal smile to curious lips.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Our dad's not getting us for another two hours," Claus replied.

"Wow, seriously?" Ness responded.

Immediately, a vehicle pulled in along the sidewalk. Ness perked up and recognized it as his mom and sister. Before he rushed off to it, he looked at us, and then hurried to the car. When I looked over, Ness was speaking to his mother through the window. Then, both of them, and Tracy, looked at Claus and I. Ness turned around and hurried back to us.

"You guys want a ride home?" he asked.

"Really?" Claus responded.

"Sure, you live close by our house, so it's no problem."

"Ness, you're the best!" Claus exclaimed. He got up, grabbing his backpack, and patted Ness on the shoulder before rushing to the car. I got up as well, wanting to thank Ness. I did it very shyly though.

"Um, thanks a whole lot, Ness," I said, almost looking down.

He put a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about it." I blushed from the warm touch of his hand as it pierced the fuzz of my shirt. He led me to the car where Claus was impatiently waiting by tapping his toe on the ground. He climbed in first, and I went in next. Soon, Ness came in as well, leaving the three of us sitting together in a somewhat cramped space. However, I liked it, because I was closer to Ness, which was completely more than okay for me.

The drive felt shorter compared to being on the bus. We soon arrived on our house street. I wanted the ride to be longer, so I could unconsciously fall asleep on Ness' shoulder. It was too bad my fantasies were just fantasies.

Claus exited and stretched his body as I followed him out.

"Thank you for the ride," I said to Ness' mother.

"It's no problem sweetie," she replied. "You boys take care now," she said.

I nodded, then looked at Ness. "Bye Ness," I said.

"See ya, Luke," he responded. I felt like every time he said "Luke" I was going to go crazy from giggling on the inside so much.

I closed the car door and walked towards the house with Claus, watching the car drive away and turn when they needed to. Claus called Dad and told him we arrived home safely. Mom had baked us brownies as Dad's apology, which Claus and I happily ate a lot of. I played with Boney for a little bit by tugging a rope with him, then I finished the evening by starting a new drawing. It was going to be a drawing of Ness, Claus, and Ninten, side by side standing on the stage, singing their hearts out.


	12. A Week's Worth of Events

**Lenne:** I feel a little bad for writing this chapter. But it gets a happy ending anyways. Enjoy!

Warning, some language. I'm not kicking it to M, I'll just warn you, it's only a couple of swearing.

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><p><span>Chapter 12: A Week's Worth of Events<span>

A week and three days passed since the choir rehearsal day. Let's summarize what's happened so far.

Friday: A normal day as usual.

After school, though, I spent my time on my drawings. At one point, I had this thought about sketching a nude image of Ness...but I couldn't do that. I wanted to, but three reasons prevented me. One, what would Ness think of me if he found out? Two, where could I hide it? Claus and our mom usually snoops around my stuff.

And three, I couldn't really actually draw him...like that...since I needed to see his one spot... down _there_.

Saturday: Saturday was another happy day with Ness. He came over to my house and swam with me. This time, he brought his own swimsuit: a design of red fill with blue flames on the side, which I found very cool. He only swam with me, since Claus wanted to spend time on a new online game he found. Ness and I splashed water, tried to see who held our breaths the longest, or just relaxed and floated.

Sunday was a fine relaxing day. No school, no homework. I would have visited Ness, but he had a private baseball practice session for the day.

Monday and Tuesday were normal days. Learning more math, starting the English project with Ness, and such. Occasionally I worried for Claus because he didn't really like English class, and being a newcomer in the class wouldn't really help him. Fortunately, he paired up with one of the least popular kids, who was often picked on outside of class, but he was very intelligent.

Wednesday was okay too.

Thursday was also a normal day, but the Art class began doing freestyle projects in the upcoming E.B. Junior High Art Museum. Having to exhibit our created art was optional, but it seemed like everyone wanted to put something in the exhibit. Of course, with the encouragement of my teacher, I was going to enter a few of my sketches.

Friday...was a _bad_ day.

During lunch break, I needed to go to the bathroom. The teacher that supervised all who entered and exited the cafeteria was kind enough and allowed me to leave. I exited the cafeteria building and headed into the main entrance doors nearby. I entered the 8th grade hall bathroom, since it was the nearest. I did my business, and washed my hands.

As I approached the bathroom door to exit, it suddenly swung open. Two boys walked inside, and fear ran through my body immediately. I easily recognized their smug faces.

They were the two of the three partners in crime from the first day I came here. They spotted me and began approaching me with evil grins. I had no choice but to back away.

"Look Eric," said the brown haired boy. "it's this kid from the other day."

"Yeah, I remember this wimp," said the black-haired boy.

When they got close to me, I was stopped at the wall with no escape. The wall on my immediate right didn't help. Only a bathroom stall on my left was open, and there was no point of going in there.

"What, scared?" asked the boy named Eric. Both of them put their arms on the wall, trapping me. "Heh, he looks like he's gonna wet his pants, right Lee?"

The brown-haired boy name Lee chuckled. "Right, right. Though I'm sure he wears diapers. Ain't that right, Lukie-wookie?"

I grew angry at their taunts, but I couldn't do anything because I wasn't the type to fight. All I could do was just listen to them.

Immediately, Eric grabbed my shirt collar and pulled me closer.

"Guess what," he began. "Because of you, our pal Jack got suspended. Well, he comes back on Monday, but I'm sure he'll want to get back at you." He threw me back at the wall.

"But we're his best buddies, so we're gonna go ahead and do his job."

Eric looked over at Lee. "You wanna guard the door, or should I?"

"Eh, you can have him. Beat him up good," he said.

I became completely scared when I heard what they were saying. I was frozen still as Eric lifted me up by pulling up my shirt. I was surprised by his strength, but even being appalled couldn't overpower how frightened I was. He clenched his fist and punched my left cheek, throwing me down into the wall. The amount of pain was immense. I couldn't feel my cheek, and I wanted to move my teeth to, but it felt like they broke. I licked around to make sure they were still there, and they were still intact, but I could taste a little blood.

"Try not to make so much noise," Lee said.

"Oh forget it, the walls are pretty thick, it don't matter," responded Eric. "Hey look, he's crying already."

It was true, the punch was so strong that it already left me tearing. I wanted to bite down the pain, but my teeth were so hurt from the impact. My body was paralyzed too, I was dropped down without being able to break the fall. My head and back suffered hitting the wall behind.

Then a hardened foot struck my stomach. I cried out so hard that right after, I was slapped for making noise.

"Cry all you want you little bitch," Eric said grimly. He kicked and drove his foot into my stomach. I screeched out, unable to endure it anymore.

"Damn it! Eric, Eric!" exclaimed Lee.

"What?" I was glad he stopped.

"Someone's trying to get in!" the door was pushed open and Lee was knocked down. I couldn't believe who came in to save me.

"Luke!" Ness came dashing on in and pulled Eric away, making him trip over. As Ness carefully lifted me up against the wall, I could also see Claus holding down Lee, pinning his arms and body down.

"Shit!" Eric tried to dash out of the bathroom, but Claus grabbed his leg and he fell over. Just then, an adult man, Mr. Webb, my math teacher, walked into the path of the bathroom entrance. Ninten also stepped in the way, carrying my belongings.

"You two are in _**serious **_trouble," stated Mr. Webb. "Claus, get off of him." My brother did as told and he released Lee. Both of the bullies stood up and looked down at the floor, unsure of what to do. Mr. Webb looked at Ness and myself. "Ness, go take him to the nurse. I gotta get these two to the principal."

As Eric and Lee left the bathroom, Claus and Ninten hurried on over to my side.

"Lucas! You okay, bro?!" Claus fell in his overprotective state and checked up all over my body. I nodded at him.

I could barely speak, but I managed. "How'd you guys find me?" I asked.

"You took too long, and lunch was about to end. So we tried to find you," Ninten replied.

"We heard someone scream in here, I thought it was you," Ness said. His arm was still around my neck, which comforted me very much.

"Can you stand up?" Claus got on my right side, prepared to catch me if I tried to stand. I examined my body with my mind, and found that I could probably move my legs, but lose balance immediately with a hurt torso area. I shook my head.

"Come on," Ness said. As Ninten stepped back, Ness and Claus supported me up, and I tried to walk, but I immediately fell down as expected, trying to hold my stomach. I coughed out some blood in the process.

"Holy...!" Claus lowered himself and rubbed my back. "If only we got here sooner..." he whispered.

"Luke," Ness said. I only turned my eyes over. "Here," he pushed me back to the wall. He let my legs stretch forward, and he did something that I had expected in the current situation.

I could see both Ninten and Claus drop their mouths as Ness carried me in his arms. An obvious blush formed on my face, where I hoped the blood on my lips drew away the flush on my cheeks.

I tried to snuggle up to Ness' arm as he carried me out of the bathroom and towards the main office, where the nurse's office was located. With Ninten and Claus following, we reached the office in no time, only to meet Mrs. Baez with shocked remarks and to summon the nurse out of her lunch break. We went into the office and Ness laid me down on the bed. He sat on the bed too, watching me, and then grabbing some nearby tissues to wipe the blood off my lips. Mrs. Baez told Claus to call our mom to inform her what happened. Ninten set my belongings down by the bed, and stood by.

The nurse came in and shooed my friends for the moment as she mended to me. She checked my teeth to make sure they were still okay. And they were, but I had to rinse out my mouth. Unable to walk, she grabbed a cup of water and made me rinse and spit back in it, tossed and washed it, and the process repeated. She couldn't do much for my stomach, so all I had was rest, but after telling her I coughed up blood, she insisted I go see a doctor to make sure my internal organs were okay. Once I was left on the bed, the nurse exited to retrieve her belongings in the teachers' lounge. In the mean time, my friends reentered the room to check on me.

"You okay bro?" Claus asked.

I weakly nodded in my place. "What'd Mom say?"

"She said that Dad's on his way to get you to a doctor." I lightly sighed in relief. "Good thing that his day off is today," he commented.

I grinned, unsure of what else to say. Then, I looked at Ness. "Thanks Ness...and, sorry."

"For what? It's not your fault." He then smiled, "and, it's no biggie, Luke."

As Ness and Claus were looking at me, Ninten gave me two thumbs up from afar. I wasn't sure what he meant, but I chuckled inside my mind. Shortly, the nurse came back in and told Ness and Claus to go on to their classes. Saying good-bye to me for the day, they left the office. Ninten was allowed to stay by my side, since we had the same period together, which was being office assistants.

While the nurse attended to printing forms and writing things in a separate room, Ninten and I chatted.

"I didn't expect Ness to carry you like that," he commented.

"Yeah, well, I kind of did." I responded. I kept reminiscing the thought of every step Ness took as he held me in his arms. "But who knew Ness was so strong?"

"More like, who knew Ness would do that. Right?"

"Yeah..."

"But hey! From that, I could tell Ness really likes you."

"You think so?"

"Positive! I mean, he carried you like you were his bride! Nobody would do that at our age."

"Well, he only carried me like that cause I couldn't move..."

"So? Well, we'll just wait and see. Don't worry, I'll keep my eyes open and ears sharp for everything he says!"

"Good, and I won't forget about you and Claus either."

"Hehe, thanks!"

After that, Ninten was called by Mrs. Baez to do a delivery. Then, she came in and talked to me, where I told her what happened. Soon, my dad arrived and dismissed me out of school early to take me to the doctor. I was checked up on, and no fatal damages. I only needed rest as instructed. And that was all I did for the rest of the day and Saturday.

On Sunday, Ness came over to my house, wanting to see how I was doing. I recovered without any problems, so we could spend the day together normally. We mainly played for hours on my video games. Claus was up in his room playing on his laptop, but he eventually came down to watch Ness and I fight each other on a fighting game, and then returned back upstairs.

During a break, of which Mom brought us brownies to eat by the TV, I showed Ness all of my finished drawings of him. His amazed face conspicuously told me that he really admired them. Admitting that I had amazing talent again, he asked me a question I didn't expect.

"Can I keep one of these?"

"...Huh?" I stared at him blankly.

"Can I?" he repeated.

"Oh, well, sure." I didn't mind at all. In fact, I was honored to let him keep one of my drawings. No one has ever asked to actually keep a drawing of mine, nor have I given them to anyone I knew. "Which one, though?"

He took my sketchbook without letting me see the pages he turned to. He gently ripped a page out and closed the book. I reached for the torn page but he stretched it away from me.

"Nuh-uh," Ness said. "Figure it out for yourself." His playful smile teased my heart.

All I did was pretend to pout, sticking my tongue out at him. "Meanie."

We finished the day with our last round of another fighting game. Then, he left the house, and I was left alone with Boney watching TV with me.

As I turned the pages of my sketchbook, all of the drawings were clean and intact except for one. And I knew which drawing he took. It was a special drawing to me, because I drew it while I was resting in bed. In the top right hand corner of it, I marked it with a star. And, the page with the star was gone.

He decided to keep the drawing of me and him, standing close to each other, where Ness held out two bunny-ear fingers to the "camera." His face showed a teeth-smile of glee, while I could only show my flushed cheeks with a shy grin. The crux of the drawing exhibited that the both of us were happy that we were together in the picture, blithe and thankful.


	13. The Work of Ninstinct

**Lenne: **Ohay guys!

It's been a long wait. However, school started so now I must focus on my studies. In order to appease your impatience, I give you a very small update. But don't worry, this story is currently my top priority, so I won't abandon it. I'll try to work on it each day ifIamnotgaminglol

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><p><span>Chapter 13: The Work of Ninstinct<span>

Monday, May 14th.

It was another regular day, but the news of the bully incident spread around really quickly. Once most of my classmates and teachers caught me in sight, they often asked, "are you okay? What happened? Does it still hurt?" For today and the next day, I was given some get-well cards, candy, and snacks. I tried to deny everyone's kindness, even Claus' overprotectiveness and Ness' constant checking on me, but it kept going on through out the rest of the two days.

Wednesday, May 16th.

In the morning as we walked into the 8th grade hall, all of my anxiety and distrust reappeared as three familiar girls in cheerleader uniform were going locker to locker, handing a pink card to each person that stood near one.

"Please come to my birthday party!" announced Leila.

"Please come to Leila's birthday party!" exclaimed a black-haired girl.

"Come to Leila's birthday party, it'll be fun!" yelled the blonde-haired one.

Ninten, Claus, and I stared at them from afar as they continued to hand out the pink cards.

"Are they allowed to do that?" Claus asked.

"Well, there's no rule against it," replied Ninten.

Just then, Ness arrived by my shoulder.

"Mornin' guys!" he said. "What's going on?"

"Leila's handing out birthday invites," Ninten responded. As we stared at them, the blonde-haired cheerleader came up to us.

"Oh, Ness!" she said. "Did you get an invite yet?"

"Nope," he replied.

"Well go see Leila, she has one for you." Then, she handed two pink cards to Ninten and Claus. I noticed that after she handed it to Claus, she didn't bother to give me one before attempting to walk off.

"Hey wait," Claus said, "what about my brother?"

"Oh, um, sorry, I don't have anymore invites," she responded. "Might have to ask Leila for them." She turned the corner and walked off.

"Well, gotta get my invite," Ness said. "Come on Luke, she'll probably have some more." I nodded, and followed him to meet with Leila, who was just giving out one more invite to a girl. When Leila turned around, she gasped with a happy face.

"Ness!" she exclaimed. "So glad to see you!"

"Um...yeah, I guess," nervously replied Ness.

"So, I'm guessing you're going to my birthday party?" she asked.

"Sure, why not?" he responded. "Got an invite?"

"Here you go!" She pulled out a pink-colored card from a stack under her left arm, and extended it to Ness.

Ness took the card, "Thanks! Oh and, could my friend have one too?" he said, pointing his thumb at me.

"Uh...well..." I could tell by the tone of her voice that she didn't want me to go. I expected her to come up with a stupid excuse. "I'm out of them, sorry."

I secretly and quickly rolled my eyes, and pointed out the rest of the pink cards under her arm. "Then, what are those?"

"Oh, these are invites for my family. I have sixteen invites left, one was for Ness, but I need the rest to give out to my relatives." I frowned, at the fact that I didn't receive an invite and that she made up that kind of excuse.

"Can't you make more?" Ness asked.

"Sorry... but I've already made plenty of invites, so I can't make more. Maybe next year," she said. "Well, gotta go, cheerleading practice starts soon!" she hurried off out of the hall and out of sight.

Ness saw the sad and neutral mixed look on my face. "Sorry, Luke."

I snapped out of my depressed trance. "For what?"

"That you didn't get an invite."

"Oh...it's no biggie." I faked a grin at him. "Don't worry, it's just a party."

"Well, I guess..." Ness looked at the card, reading its contents.

Ninten and Claus came up to us.

"So, did you get one?" asked Ninten.

I shook my head. Claus responded with a grumble. "Well if you can't go, then I'm not going," he said.

"That's fine, you don't need to do that," I said.

There was a sudden beep that sounded from the intercom, warning of the morning bell, which rang after exactly ten seconds had passed.. The passing period had just started.

"Well, gotta head to class," Ness said. "I'll see you guys later." He waved good-bye to us as he headed off to his classroom.

"Well, let's head to P.E.," Claus said. He turned around and started walking down the hall. Ninten and I followed right behind him.

When we entered the P.E. room, two new cheerleaders were walking our way with pink cards in hand. There were so many, so I knew for sure I could get one. Bravely, I walked up to them and requested for one politely.

"Could I have an invitation, please?" I said.

"Oh, well..." One of them was about to grab one from her stack until I saw her elbow was nudged on.

"Hey, remember what Leila said?" whispered the other girl.

"Oh, right, sorry, I forgot, these are for some friends we chose ourselves," said the first girl.

Claus spoke up, "But you have so many. You can't spare one?"

"Sorry!" exclaimed the other girl. "These are for all of our friends! Cheerleaders have a lot, you know." They rushed past us and zoomed out the door.

"I don't believe it," Claus said. "They can't have _that_ many friends."

"Maybe they do," I said with doubt. I didn't want to believe it either. I had a feeling there was another reason that I couldn't get an invite.

"Whatever. Come on, let's go change," Claus said. My brother went on ahead in the direction of the boys' locker room. As we walked, Ninten whispered something to me.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'll get you an invite."

"You don't have to," I said.

"So, you don't want to be at the party with Ness?" he responded. "You know, I heard we'd be playing lots of games, including Truth or Dare."

"...Well...what's so special about that?"

"I could dare Ness to give you a hug, or, maybe a kiss."

I blushed and bumped his elbow. "Shut up."

He chuckled and slightly fastened his walking pace. "Still, I'll get you an invite, promise!" He winked at me, and then went up to Claus' side to annoy him using his nickname. I subtly smiled at them as they fooled around, pulling on each other's cheeks or hair.

I didn't know how Ninten was going to get an invite for me, but I didn't really care, so long as I could go to the party with Ness.

Two days later, Ninten asked me to come over to his house after school. I asked why, but he said it was a surprise. I did as told and left with Boney at my side, since he urged to come along. Upon arriving at Ninten's house, Boney stayed outside to play with Mick while I went up with Ninten to his room.

"So, what's the deal?" I asked.

"Lookie-here!" he held out a pink card in front of me. I took it from him and read the basic contents.

_Leila's Fantastic Fifteenth Birthday Party  
><em>_May 26, 2012  
>9:00 AM - 9:00 PM<em>

Games, Swimming Pool, Makeovers, and a gigantic Cake!

Sleepovers for girls only! _Boys must have Leila's permission_!

_(Towels and swimsuits will be provided if necessary)_

It was an exact copy of an invitation to Leila's birthday party.

"How'd you get one?" I questioned.

"Easy," he replied. "One of the cheerleaders who had invites gave me another one when I told them I lost mine. It's not that hard."

"Maybe for you," I responded. I told him how I tried asking another different cheerleader for the same pink invite. I even tried the excuse Ninten used, but the reaction from her was, "You actually got an invite?" I was appalled by what that meant. But even so, I never got an invitation.

As Ninten processed all this information, he came with only one logical conclusion. "I think Leila hates you," he said.

I thought so as well. It was not a very well hidden truth based on the behavior of the cheerleaders, including Leila.

"So if Leila hates me, how am I going to get in the party?" I questioned. "The second she sees me, she might kick me out."

"Hmm..." Ninten put his finger on his chin, and came up with an idea. "Ness!"

"...What about him?"

"Leila likes Ness. But I'm sure Ness likes you too."

"How do you know?"

"...Okay, maybe I don't know, but your friendship is waaaaay high, I can tell!" He pointed to his brain, "I call it Ninstinct!"

I rolled my eyes with a little giggle, and agreed with the idea for now. "So, what about Ness?"

"If Ness really wants you at the party, then he'll protest if Leila won't let you inside, right?"

I nodded. "I see..."

"Right! So if Leila considers Ness' feelings, then she'll let you stay, so you get to stay with Ness. But if she kicks you out, Ness is likely to stay with you. It's a win-win situation!"

"Right, but how can I arrive at the party with Ness? I have to go with Claus."

"Already got it covered," he said. "Just ask your mom if you and Claus can carpool with me and Ness. We'll pick you up at nine. We'll all arrive and head through the front door together."

"..." I sighed and smiled at Ninten's efforts. "I can't believe you did all this," I commented.

"Better believe it!" he finished with a giddy smile.


	14. Leila's Party, Part 1

**Lenne: **Hi guys~!

So I'm excited about this part of the story. Reasons may be obvious but I'm not going to spoil anything :3

To also relieve the wait for you guys, I'm splitting the section into a few parts (probably two or three parts, maybe more, not sure). So, enjoy!

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><p><span>Chapter 14: Leila's Party, Part 1<span>

Claus and I asked Mom and Dad if we could go with Ness and Ninten together for the party. They agreed once we had promised to behave ourselves, assuming that a party is a usual place for many kinds of inappropriate actions. Claus promised to keep me company, so that nothing would happen to me.

On the morning of May 26th, Ness and his mother arrived with the car. With invites in hand, swimsuits and a towel in our backpacks, and my sketchbook packed in mine, we got into the car, meeting Ninten inside, who prodded Claus' hair and began a playful fight.

It was a short drive to Leila's home—a residence I did not feel like visiting, but I couldn't resist gasping at the size and surroundings. The peach brick wall enclosed a three-story house, and it was the only giant building on the street. Already, there were other kids who were in a small line at the front gate, being watched by a guardian near their vehicles from afar. The line grew shorter quickly as the host of the party just took their invitations without any hassle.

Ness' mom had to pick us up at 7 PM, because she had a work meeting at night. The four of us had to stay at the party for at least ten hours. I only hoped that I could last through the party for at least one hour.

Ninten, Ness, Claus and I got in the gradually decreasing line. As we got closer to the door, we could hear Leila exclaiming "Thank you for coming, enjoy!" to each person or small group.

When we reached her side, her face turned disgusted at the sight of me.

"I don't remember inviting you," she said to me. I replied with a silent stare, hiding my fear. "I bet you don't even have an invite," Leila continued.

"It's right here," Claus said. He raised up my hand, and flashed off his invitation as well. "We both got invites, so we both can come in, right?"

"...Well..." She rolled her eyes to the side, pretending to think, but I knew she was stalling. I looked at Ninten, and he shifted his eyes back and forth to me and Ness, trying to give me a signal. I interpreted it as looking to Ness, and I did. He smiled at me, and pretended a sigh.

"Leila, could you let them in, please?" he asked. "They're both my friends."

Leila looked at Ness with a calmer face, and sighed as well. "Fine, go in." She took our invites and we passed through the door. We met a freshing, house scent, but that didn't erase the chaotic chatter going on in the house. Up in front of us was a huge living room, where numerous boys were watching a football program on the TV, cheering and yelling.

Right beside the TV room split by a thin wall was a huge blank area. However, in a corner of the room was a group of air-filled balloons, all either a blue or purple color. I could see a small paper sitting within each balloon as well. I wanted to take a peek at them, but as soon as Claus tried to check them out, a familiar cheerleader stopped him, stating that the balloons are for a special game later in the day.

Past the both of the two areas was the huge kitchen, with a large table full with bowls of different kinds of chips and bean, salsa, and cheese dip. already being devoured by a small, hungry group. There were two huge platters set in the middle of the table, and I expected them to be the cakes that everyone will be eating.

Beyond the kitchen was the backyard pool. I couldn't believe the size; it was as if it was a community pool, with all the people currently in the water. Claus and Ninten were captivated by the enjoyment everyone was having-tossing two or three beachballs around, or just trying to chase each other in the water. There was a changing area for males on our right, fit for two boys at a time. No one was in there at the moment, so after Claus entrusted me into Ness' care, he went on ahead to change into his swimsuit, followed by Ninten.

I asked Ness if he wanted to go swim as well, but he said he wanted to go later. He preferred exploring the home a little more. I was curious as well, but I mainly went with him just to be close to him.

We went up the stairs next to the front door, where Leila was still allowing people to enter. As we followed some girls, we were led into a lengthy hallway with many doors. In door one on our immediate right was another TV room, only that girls were in it watching some kind of romance program. In door two on our left, twelve or thirteen boys and girls were playing a game using a weird-looking machine in the middle of the room. Everyone held a green, rhombus shaped figure, but I still didn't recognize the game. As Ness and I checked each room, we found a dark room strictly for a mini-version of laser-shooting tag game, a room for dancing (which was nearly packed), two video game rooms, and a beauty salon for girls as well as the bathroom at the end of the hall.

Passing by the growing number of students within the home, we went up the third floor. There were red X's on paper taped to about four doors. One was slightly opened, so we peeked in and found an empty bedroom. Ness and I concluded that the third floor was for those who were sleeping over. At the end of the hall was a bathroom, as well as a particular room with a sign saying "Relaxing Room." When Ness opened the door, there was no one inside. All there was a plain colored room-beige carpet and white walls, along with four reclining chairs on the other side of the room. As we stepped inside, we heard no noise except the soft crunching of the carpet. I closed the door, reading the note by the doorknob that says "Lock if you want to be left alone!" I locked it, trying to empty my mind of dirty ideas.

Ness set his bag down and set in one of the chairs. "This is pretty comfy," he commented.

"Really?" I responded. He patted the chair next to him, inviting me over. I set my bag down next to the wall, and sat down. Ness was right-as I laid back in the chair, I felt like I was on a cloud.

"Nice, huh?" he asked. I nodded and hummed. I stared at the bland ceiling, almost wanting to shut my eyes. I looked over to Ness, and he closed his eyes as well.

"Are you sleeping?" I playfully asked.

"Maybe," he said. "I didn't get much sleep last night, so I'm pretty tired."

"What were you doing?" I questioned.

"Trying to beat your high score in Tac-Man," he said.

Tac-Man was a game I played a few days ago at Ness' house while he was forced to help Tracy with her project for half an hour. Ness' score was significantly high, but I topped him in no time, even though I was a beginner. All I did was logical thinking—when and where to avoid the gobbling ghosts and when to get the power ups to eat them back. When Ness found out about my score, he threw a playful tantrum on me.

"You were that mad?" I asked.

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "Do you know how long it took me to get that many points? One month! And you beat me in one hour!"

I laughed, and he giggled at me, lightly punching my shoulder. We ended our moment with a smile at each other, but to prevent awkwardness, we both turned to the ceiling. We stared at it, imagining nothing, hearing nothing, and soon began seeing nothing.

Ness had then spoke. "Wanna get back to the party?" he asked.

"I thought you wanted to sleep," I replied.

"Well...yeah. And well, this chair is so comfortable anyways."

"Mm-hm," I agreed. I looked over to Ness. He sat there, silent and still with a grin on his face, enjoying peace. His position already told me he was about to take a nap.

I wanted to fall asleep next to him too, but so many thoughts filled my mind at the moment. First off, Ness was sleeping. That meant opportunities to do all sorts of things. But, there was only one chance to do any one of those sorts of things, and I couldn't pick what to do. Moreover, could I even do it? Could I just blurt my feelings for him? Could I even try to kiss his cheek while he slept? Could I even get out of my seat and just put myself all over him? I did nothing but think, think, and think while trying to struggle from the various thoughts.

At one point I finally pushed away everything to focus on nothing at all. I began to drift off as well, until a ringing blare shocked us both awake. Ness' phone was ringing. He groaned at who was calling, but answered anyways. As he talked, I could hear Ninten's voice on the other side of the phone.

"Hey Ness, where are you?" Ninten asked.

"Relaxing on the 3rd floor, why?" Ness replied sleepily.

"Oh, just wondering. You're okay, right? Where's Lucas?"

"I'm fine, and Lucas is right next to me."

"Oh, okay! Well, Leila and everyone are beginning a big pool game, do you wanna join?"

"Maybe later, I'm just tired right now. Call me in about an hour or something, okay?"

"Got it!" Their conversation ended, and Ness tossed his phone on his bag and pulled out the leg rest on the recliner. He shut his eyes immediately, and began the process of resting.

"You okay, Ness?" I asked.

"Just tired," he replied. "I'll probably get back my energy after an hour and then eating or something."

"Okay," I said. I kept my eyes on him until he opened them and glanced at me. "You're gonna stay?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Really?" I nodded. "...Why? Wouldn't you rather go and have fun than just watch me sleep?" he asked.

"Well, I don't really mind staying..." I nervously responded.

"Ah, fine fine. Well, if you're gonna stay, you might as well sleep too."

"Sure," I said. I pulled the leg rest out and relaxed in the same position as Ness. But, right as I settled, Ness got up and tossed his shirt off onto his bag, leaving him in a white undershirt. I blushed at the sight of his revealed skin and covered torso, remembering him in his swimsuit.

...What did he just do? Begin a stripping tease in front of me?

"It's a little stuffy in here," he mentioned. I immediately cleared all of my thoughts.

"O-Oh, yeah, I guess," I agreed. Though the room was clearly air conditioned, I pulled the collar of my shirt to check if my body was sweating. I did feel a little perspiration, which I must have obtained from thinking about those unmentionable thoughts. For now, I ignored it.

Ness gave out a deep breath and turned to his side. "Well, see ya in an hour," he said.

I smiled at him. "Have a good nap," I said. I settled into the seat once more, and began falling asleep.


	15. Leila's Party, Part 2

**Lenne:** Sorry for the long wait everyone! Ah my gosh, I was so distracted on education and my boyfriend andnotmygaming that it took more than a month to update.

And because of that, I give you a chapter full of surprises. I hope you like the result~

So, enjoy! Really, you should be enjoying it. You all may like the ending. Okay enough spoiling. Because I can't reveal that Lucas gets-*is shot*

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><p><span>Chapter 15: Leila's Party, Part 2<span>

RIIIING!

...Gah.

RIIING!

The ringing stopped, but I opened my eyes to see where the noise came from. As soon as I found where I was, I remembered I was taking a nap with Ness. Looking to my left, Ness had just flipped his phone open.

"Yeah?" he said.

"It's been an hour!" yelled Ninten.

"...Right, right," Ness responded.

"You guys gonna come down?" said the voice. When I heard it again, I recognized it as Ninten's voice.

"Yeah, we'll be out soon." Ness grabbed his shirt and put it on his lap. "What's going on now?"

"Everyone's sunbathing or inside relaxing right now, but we're going to get back in the pool soon since it's gotten a little sunny."

"All right, we're coming." Ness disconnected the call and stretched out his body. I did the same and stood up, relieving the tension all over my body. Ness stood up, put on his shirt, and grabbed our bags, giving me my bag.

"So, we're going to the pool?" I asked.

"Yep," Ness said. We headed out the door and stepped out into the hallway.

"Oh wait, I should get a snack..." Ness mentioned.

"But you might get a cramp while swimming then," I said.

"Ah, right," Ness reacted by lightly punching his head. I giggled at his forgetfulness.

We headed downstairs and out to the backyard pool. Numerous boys and girls wearing swimsuits, with some wearing shirts, were sitting down on a chair or on the edge of the pool, chatting or relaxing their bodies under the sun. It was sunny, as Ninten at mentioned, and I could already feel some of the rays begin to heat my skin.

"Damn, the sun burns," Ness mentioned.

Claus came walking from the side in his swimsuit, with Ninten following behind in deep blue swim shorts. He carried a beachball under his arm as well, and tossed it to Ness.

Ness caught it and put it under his arm. "How was the game?"

"Pretty fun!" Ninten replied. "We had to throw sandbags in a basket, and they were heavy. But it was fun!"

"Sandbags?" I asked. "And what basket?"

"The baskets were put up, but they were high on a pole. Youd had to throw as many sandbags as you can in them," he pointed to the pool. I walked over to find abnormal blue-colored patterns sitting in the deepest depth of the pool. It was hard to count how many they were, due to the water conflicting with its colors. Though, I assume that feature was also a hindrance in the game.

"So who won?" Ness asked.

"Red team!" Ninten said. "We were both on red. We beat blue, yellow, and green!"

"Cool." Ness gave the beach ball back to Ninten and began walking off. "Hey Luke, let's go get changed."

I looked over and hurried to him, "Okay."

"We'll be over here when you're done," Claus said.

We nodded at him and headed towards the changing house. It was like a mini-locker room, except that the storages were large enough to still hold our backpacks. Many of them were already filled up, others were left on the small bench, and few lockers were empty.

Ness closed the door behind us and locked it. At that moment, I was a little scared about what was going to happen next. Then I remembered, we were going to change into our swimsuits. Yeah, that was it.

...That was still a problem. It meant stripping down to nothing next to each other.

Ness set down his backpack on the bench and dug through to get his swim trunks. I did so as well, but on the opposite side of the small space. All the sounds made were bags being rummaged through, and distorted noise from outside.

As I took off my sandals, I noted the drenched floor. Therefore, I had to sit on the bench to remove my clothes to prevent them getting wet. That meant facing Ness as I took my shorts and underwear off.

It seemed Ness had paid no attention to the wetness of the floor or the discomfort of the space between us, as he took his shirt _and _shorts off, leaving him in red boxers, and walked over to place it in the empty storage space next to me. He saw me paused, using the time to awkwardly staring at him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"N-Nothing," I hastily replied.

"What, are you shy or something?"

"No, of course not."

"You change in P.E. everyday, don't you? What's the difference here?"

"Nothing, there's no difference! What are you trying to imply?"

Ness laughed. "Nothing." He walked back over to his bag and placed his swimsuit on the bench. He grabbed the waist of his underwear, but paused. He looked over at me and saw me staring. "You gonna watch me or something?"

"No!" I responded.

Ness chuckled again. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Go ahead, watch, I don't mind."

I didn't believe him, but he went ahead and removed his boxers down to his ankles. I did catch a glimpse of his bare bottom, but I stood up, and turned away, trying to resume changing. I removed all of my clothes, except my underwear. I don't know why I chose to wear "tighty-whities" today, it was a type of clothing that could be easily teased with by anyone. I half-turned my head to see what Ness was doing at the moment. He was struggling with his trunks, so I used the chance to quickly remove my underwear and put my suit on. I wasn't quick, I managed to be successful anyhow. I turned over to Ness, and we both looked ready. As I put my belongings in the locker next to Ness', he walked over and put his items in his storage.

"Nice butt," he whispered out loud.

"What?!"

"Kidding, kidding!" Ness giggled again. I reached for his face to slap it lightly, but he evaded and smiled at me. I said nothing more after a blush and a false frown.

We both exited the locker, greeting the bare sun once again. It now hit our upper bodies, so we could feel the pain our heads had felt before.

Ness and I met up with Claus and Ninten, who were sitting back in the many recliners. We joined them and sat under the sky for a little while, until Ninten persuaded Ness to get into the water, leaving Claus and I sitting back and watching them.

We were under a small tree that provided shade to my body, so I was fine at my position. However, Claus was up and watching the two black-haired lookalikes throwing water around and at each other.

"You gonna go in?" I asked.

"Maybe," Claus replied.

I sat up and looked around the stoned yard. It felt like half of the school was at this party. At first, I didn't understand why Leila wouldn't have extra invites if she was going to invite this many people. The idea connected very well with Ninten's claim: she probably hates me. Why?

When I remembered all the times Leila gave me murderous glares when I was near Ness, I figured out why.

"Hey, Lucas," Claus said.

"Yeah?"

"...Ninten said I had a nice butt while we were changing."

"..."

"..."

"...Ness said that too."

We both sighed. We met another pair of twins.

The party day continued from then on. I eventually joined the water with Ness, and we splashed around with everyone else or played with a beach ball along with Claus and Ninten. Then, an adult, which I assumed to be Leila's mother due to the similar hair color and style, brought out plethora of snacks on one of the tables under a patio. Everyone who was tired of swimming dried off and went to gorge on the feast. The four of us also quit swimming, slapped towels on our shoulders after drying off, and went to eat on some of the snacks. After leaving almost all of the table empty, Leila called everyone inside for a game. For the sake to have some decency, Ninten and Claus grabbed our shirts and we put them on before heading inside.

As we walked in, however, Leila happened to be standing by the door, holding a cup of punch. She shrieked once I made very slight contact with her finger. I figured that she screamed on purpose as an obvious fake-out, following up with a "there's a centipede!" excuse. It turned out, after feeling some of the punch land on my feet, that she _accidentally_ spilled her drink all over herself. Her fancy outfit—a soft yellow blouse with a matching skirt, was drenched in a blood color.

"You ruined my outfit!" she screamed. "Mom!"

"Hey, hey, Leila, calm down!" Ness immediately said.

"How can I when your _friend_ here ruined my perfect birthday outfit!"

"Leila, chill. Just go change, no need to make a big deal."

"...Fine!" Leila dropped the cup on the ground and walked inside.

It turned out to be a big deal in the end, for me that is. Everyone, _everyone_, was staring at me. I could easily see forced chuckles or disappointed and arrogant smiles.

"It's okay Lucas, just ignore them," Claus said. He led me inside along with Ness and Ninten following behind.

I tried to do so, but it was irresistible to feel the blame I was given. "Heh, that kid's gonna get it later," or, "Oh no he didn't" were a couple of the many things I knew the audience was thinking about me right now.

Leila's mom took over the crowd, and told everyone the next game was Truth or Dare. There were many groans and complaints stating that it was a stupid kids' game, or that the game creates a bad mood in the end. More than half of the party attendants went back to the pool or went to other rooms in the house for entertainment. For those who wanted to play, a number around twenty—including Ness, Ninten, my brother, and myself—were waiting in the blank room next to the kitchen. As many others stood on the side to observe, everyone else formed a large circle and sat down, waiting for the star of the party.

Leila hurried down in new attire—a brown top with slim and stylish jeans, and sat down directly across from me. I could feel the tension arise again.

"So, this is how we're going to play," Leila began in a calm tone. "There's no spinner to choose since we're all too big. So, we're going to roll this ball." On cue, a familiar cheerleader gave Leila a blue, shiny ball the size of an average hand. With another careful look, there was a small, pointy mountain on the ball. "There will be ten seconds to roll this ball. Whoever has the ball when time is up, or whoever the ball had last touched by the end of ten seconds will be it. You _must_ roll the ball. If you keep the ball for more than three seconds, you will be it. If you try to avoid being touched by the ball by moving your body, you will be it."

The cheerleader friend held one blue balloon and one purple balloon above Leila, and she continued. "These balloons hold the questions. Whatever you get is what you must answer or do, and if you refuse, _you get out of my party_, okay? We stop after all the balloons are gone."

Everyone stayed silent, until a boy next to Leila shouted "Yeah! Let's do this!" and gathered everyone else's cheer.

The game started. The ball was carefully rolled so that the spike wouldn't tumble the ball and land in a blank spot. On the first round, the chosen was declared before time was up by a panicking girl. She picked a dare, and was handed a purple balloon. She used the ball's spike to pop the baloon, which raised the awareness for why the spike was on the ball in the first place. The balloon burst with little impact on the girl, and she picked up the piece of paper that was inside the balloon. In the end, she tried to eat an ice cream sundae in under a minute, and failed midway due to the shock of the cold sweet. But, everyone applauded her attempt as she exited the game.

The next round, a pale-skinned boy, who I remembered as the class nerd of 8th grade, chose truth, and was given the blue balloon. He first modestly rejected using the ball and used his spiky shoe to crush the balloon, and obtained the truth question. He had to admit something feeble—who he had last kissed—but everyone made a surprised groan when they heard the name "Lizzy Sandoval," a special needs girl who was infamous for her constant annoyance.

The game continued on, from a boy singing a high pitch song to another boy admitting who he had last pleasured himself to—which was gratuitous information I did not need to hear. Eventually, the ball reached Claus. He chose dare, and had to smash a piñata with a bat, obliterating it with as much fury as he could. He grinned, as his angry strength was his best weapon, and obtained an aluminum bat with a rainbow-colored horse set in the center of the room. He smashed it, ravaged it, destroyed it, crushed it, punched it, kicked it, and even spit on it. Candy poured out of the box horse and everyone reached to grab as much as they could. As everyone settled back in their seat, Leila's cheerleader friends cleaned up the mess to resume the game. One boy got "kiss the person across from you," and he looked excited to kiss a cheerleader. As I glanced at Leila, however, she seemed to have been infuriated and melted. It was like she wanted that dare.

Unfortunately, I was next. I chose dare, just because I was daring. However, I ended up regretting it: I had to dance the "Sally Had a Little Llama" song. I was oppressed by the embarrassment contained in that children's song, but I was also under the pressure of not wanting to leave the party. So, I just did it. Everyone laughed as I hung my head, frolicking and waving my arms as the song went. Immediately as soon as it was over, I returned to my seat. Ness looked at me, and he had a small smile on his face as his reaction. I looked down at the ground as if my soul had died, but Claus reassured my existence by patting my back.

Ninten was next, and chose truth. It was a simple and quick truth at that.

"Who do you have a crush on right now?" Ninten read. As everyone leaned forward, he exclaimed "Oh, that's easy!"and pointed to Claus. "I like Clausy!"

"What?!" Claus reacted by slapping Ninten's head.

"Oww...but it's true!" Ninten exclaimed. He grabbed onto Claus' arm and held on as he was being struggled off, creating a short comedy for everyone to laugh at. But that didn't pause the side comments and questions about Ninten's gender preferences, as I had heard. Strangely, Ness was grinning. He wasn't surprised at all. Not even a little.

The game continued on, and then came Ness' turn. Everyone stayed silent to listen what he chose and received. When he chose dare, I had hoped for something that would not benefit Leila at all. And I was completely appalled by the result.

"Hm...kiss the person on your left," Ness read. I froze. Everyone froze. Leila melted into nothing.

I was forcefully pulled by Ness' arm and made contact with his lips.

And then, I blacked out.


	16. Leila's Party, Part 3

**Lenne: **Okay, it was a little hard planning the rest of the plot here. But I got it! So, I'm sure you will all like it from now on. But for now, I'm certain you'll all love this chapter. Just read and find out why I say so~

Enjoy!

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><p><span>Chapter 16: Leila's Party, Part 3<span>

The first thing I saw was a white ceiling. And, I heard no noise at all.

No noise? At all? At the party where I think I remember blacking out at?

I quickly sat up and found myself in the relaxation room on the third floor of the house. When I did, I saw two familiar boys right in front of me. One tall orange-haired, one short black-haired.

They were about to kiss.

I sat in silence, somewhat sleepily, until Claus noticed I was awake, and let out a laugh of shock as he backed away. Ninten found me awake and hugged me.

"You're awake! I thought we lost you!" he cried.

"He wasn't dead..." Claus said.

I rubbed my eyes twice and looked around. "What happened?"

"You fainted," answered Ninten. "Then, Claus carried you up here."

"I-I fainted? When?" I asked.

"When Ness kissed you."

And then I remembered. I covered my face to hide the blush. And then I figured, if I fainted in front of everyone, because of a kiss, that would make my personality very obvious.

"D-Did anyone say anything? About me fainting?" I asked.

"Not really," Claus replied. "Everyone was just surprised."

Ninten whispered to me, "Though, I think everyone might think you're gay now." I hung my head. "But don't worry! I already admitted I liked Claus, and I'm not afraid. You shouldn't be either."

I gave back a weak smile, until Claus walked closer and crouched down. "But bro, why didn't you tell me you liked Ness?"

"H-How'd you know?"

"Ninten told me." He patted my head. "I thought we weren't supposed to hide secrets from each other."

"I was just afraid what'd you think of me."

"You're still my brother, I don't care who you go out with, whether it's a girl or a guy." We smiled at each other. Our brotherly bond was now locked with full trust.

"So, does that mean you don't mind if I date your brother, Lucas?" Ninten asked me.

"If Claus doesn't mind." I smiled, and then remembered the incident from moments ago. "By the way, were you two about to kiss?"

"N-No!" Claus replied, looking away.

"Liar~ You said you liked me too!" Ninten said as he tackled him.

"Uhh..."

"Clausy~ don't lie to me~"

"All right, all right, fine, sorry. I just..." Claus said. His whispers were now silent to me, but I could tell from his mouth that he felt embarrassed at first doing it front of me. Ninten still hugged him. I smiled at the lovely couple, until my thoughts shifted to another person.

"Where's Ness?" I asked.

"Oh, he was getting some drinks for us," Ninten replied. "He should be back by now."

I got up and rushed to the door, reluctantly opening it, and saw the empty hallway with a few doors open, where other kids were playing games and doing other activities. I hurried down the path and carefully turned to the stairs, but then I rushed myself backwards. I had just saw Ness and Leila on the small platform of the stairs, talking to each other. I poked my head out subtly and listened.

"Just how many more guys are you going to make out with!"

Ness sighed. "Leila, that wasn't a real kiss. It was just a game, wasn't it?"

"Is that so?" the girl caressed his cheek.

"Yes, yes. He's just only a friend. You know that."

"Hmph. Fine. Just remember what happens if you reject marrying me when we're older."

"Yeah, I know, don't worry."

"Good." Then, Leila kissed Ness' cheek.

My heart tore into pieces. I stepped back, and then scurried back to the relaxation room. As Claus was about to leave the room, I hugged him tightly, with tears in my eyes.

"Lucas? What's wrong?" he asked.

"N-Ness..." I sobbed.

I didn't know what was happening anymore. I only blinded myself with Claus' shirt as he embraced me. I could only hear, even though I didn't want to. I felt like running away from here, fleeing from reality, and escaping my life.

"What did Ness do?" Ninten asked. His hand patted my back, but I made no answer.

We all sat there near the door, until that one boy's voice came in the door.

"Whoa, Luke?" he said. "What happened?"

"What'd you do to him?" Claus said, his voice almost angry.

"What do you mean?" Ness responded.

Everyone was confused now. They were uncertain. Ninten closed the door in case a fight erupted, and from that action, I could tell he was panicking. So, I had to speak. I withdrew myself from Claus.

"Are you dating Leila?" I exclaimed.

He was silent. Everyone was silent. Ness' face changed, as if he realized something.

"You were listening?" I nodded. "Oh god...I'm sorry Luke. I didn't mean for you to hear that, it's just that..." He stood silent.

"What? Spill it," Claus demanded. Ness didn't do anything for a moment, but then he tossed the fruit juices he was carrying and crouched down.

"Let's get things straight first," he said. "I don't like Leila like that. In fact, I hate her."

Now I was confused. "What?"

"The truth is...I like you, Luke." My tears suddenly stopped, and my heart rushed like light.

"Really?" I asked. He nodded. "Do you really?" I asked again. He pulled me into a hug.

I couldn't believe it. The one person who I fell in love with, who was a normal friend at first, who enjoyed being with me, who cared for me, who momentarily crushed my heart, just admitted his feelings. It was all painful, yet satisfying at the same time.

"Yay! Everyone's happy!" Ninten exclaimed. He hugged Ness and I. Then, he pulled Claus in for a group hug. We all giggled, but I knew there was something going on with Leila and Ness. We all pulled away, but I kept my curious and worried eyes on Ness.

"Then, why did Leila kiss you?" I asked. "And what's going to happen if you don't marry her?"

"...Can you all keep it a secret?" All of us nodded. He sat against the wall and he put his arm around me. I enjoyed his touch, until he told his secret.

"My dad works for Leila's dad. It's a pretty good job, but it's the only job that my dad can ever find."

"What does he do?" Claus asked.

"He's a detective. He's a good one at that. And, he loves it. But that's the only thing he's good at. He can't work at a restaurant, do bank accounting, even mow a lawn. Being a detective is my dad's life.

...So, about four years ago, he took me to his work because my mom was at the hospital for a little while. There, I met the boss' daughter, who was Leila. At that time, I think Leila fell in love with me, because there was a moment where my dad's boss sent him out on his job, leaving me at work. Then, he talked to me, and said, 'My daughter really likes you. If you want your dad to keep working here, you should make my daughter happy.' I was afraid of my dad losing his job, because we were running poor at the time. So I was spending lots of time with Leila, even though she was so annoying."

"That's...what...isn't that illegal?" Ninten said.

"I think so. But it gets even worse..."

"How so?" I asked.

"Last year, there was another guy who liked me. It was around that time I figured I was gay, because I kind of liked him too. So, we spent time with each other alot. Eventually, we kissed, but Leila was following us one time, and took a picture of us, and threatened to spread it around the school, unless he moved away within a month. And in the next week, he did. Leila threatened me too; she would tell everyone that I was gay, and would get my dad fired if I didn't spend more time with her. I didn't want her to ruin my life anymore, so I just went with it."

"That's absolute bull," Claus said. "I can't believe her."

I hugged Ness out of pity and with the feelings I had for him. "I'm sorry...your life must be terrible."

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine," he said. "Maybe when I'm eighteen I'll just blow her off for good, since that's when my dad should have enough money for me to go to college alone or something."

"Ness, you shouldn't have to go through anymore of that torture," Claus said. "Think about what's right. Think about your freedom. Think about Lucas."

He looked into me as I had worried eyes for him. He laid his head on mine and pulled me in closer. "You're right, Claus, but unless my dad can find another job he's good at, then what else can I do? Plus, I got my reputation to hold onto. A lot of the kids at the school don't like gays, too. Even some teachers."

"Do you really care about your reputation more than Lucas?" Claus asked. "Is that what you're trying to say?"

Ness sat silently. Then, Ninten crawled closer to us.

"Ness, I don't mind if people hate me if they know I'm gay. I just laugh it out, and smile for the future. If they hate us because we are what we are, then they're just afraid to face reality. They're jealous that they can't find love so easily, too. If I can ignore them, you can too."

I hugged Ness tighter to give him support. Then, he sighed. "Okay, fine, but what about my dad?"

"Oh, leave that to me," Ninten said. "I think my dad can help."

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"My dad lives farther from here, but he's the superintendent of the police and detectives in his area, but I'm sure he'll gladly help get rid of Leila's boss. And if he needs to, he can recruit Ness' dad."

"You'd do that for me?" responded Ness.

"Of course! I don't wanna see Lucas sad because of you. And if Lucas is sad, then Clausy is sad, so..." Then, Claus hugged him tightly. "Waah!"

"Ninten, if you can help Ness then you can call me Clausy all you want!"

Ninten giggled as he was released. "Then I'll make sure that I make it happen."

"I can't believe it," Ness said. We all turned to him. "You guys are so nice."

"It's because we all love each other," I said.

"...Wait, what? Claus, you love Ninten?" asked Ness.

"...Maybe," Claus replied.

"Yes you do!" Ninten hugged him tightly.

"Okay, okay, let go! Too many hugs!"

I laughed at them as I hugged Ness. He gladly accepted me into his arms.

"We should get going now," Ness suggested. "Who knows what Leila's gonna say to me."

"Right," Ninten said. He walked towards the door with Claus. "Just keep Leila happy for now, and when my dad gets on her dad and everything's okay by then, you can be with Lucas happily ever after!"

"Okay." My brother and his lover left the room with relieved thoughts.

Ness looked at me. "Ready to go?"

I nodded. We both stood up and headed through the door. Our bodies were at a sufficient distance throughout the day, so that our secret would remain a secret. Leila suspected nothing at all, but she was still being lovey-lovey with Ness. I could tell that Ness was reaching his limit just by his face. The party continued throughout the day, until everyone left. Leila demanded Ness to sleepover, and so he did, in order to keep the "friendship" between them safe.

Thirty minutes before I had to leave with Claus and Ninten, I invited Ness back upstairs to the relaxation room. He arrived with no one suspecting him gone, and shut the door, leaving the both of us in solitude.

"What is it, Luke?" He walked closer to me.

"Ness," I began.

"Yeah?" I threw myself in his arms once more.

"I'm really sorry...about all this. I thought you were just another cool guy who had no feelings for a guy like me...but it turns out that Leila is just blackmailing you. So..."

Ness lifted my head up, and kissed me. And, it was a real kiss. Neither of us wanted to leave our position. It was as if we asked to be glued together on the spot.

Once he pulled away, he pulled me in for another embrace. "I'm not gonna make the same mistake again. I'm not going to let the one I love slip away from me again because of Leila. I'll make sure of that."

I felt tears arriving again, but Ness kissed me once more to let them stay behind. "I really love you, Ness."

"I love you, too. That's why I'm going to fight for us."

Our conversation ended there, because there was nothing more needed to be said. He left the room, knowing that I understood that we had to be separated for now. It was okay, because it was already well known how much I loved that one boy.


	17. Foiling Leila's Plans

**Lenne: **So soon? Yes, I felt like doing it early. Just enjoy c:

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><p><span>Chapter 17: Foiling Leila's Plans<span>

The day after the party, Claus and I were alone at home in the afternoon because Mom went out to search for jobs while buying groceries. For her to do that would take several hours, but she trusted that Claus and I would behave.

What she didn't know was that Claus invited Ninten, and Ness tagged along as well, wanting to escape Leila's grasp. All we did for the three or four hours they stayed was spend a lot of loving time with us, whether it was games, swimming, or cuddling.

It felt weird snuggling with my secret boyfriend in front of my brother, but I was sure Claus felt the same way.

Of course, we didn't do anything too inappropriate, since the law was serious.

Speaking of law enforcement, Ninten informed his dad of Ness' situation, and said that he would get to it as soon as possible. Score for us!

The next morning at school, Ness was immediately pulled away by Leila and her girlfriends. I tried to ignore them and continued on the path to P.E. class. Claus already went ahead wanting to meet the outside world for the day, leaving Ninten and I slowly following behind.

Suddenly, we were stopped by a familiar pink-haired girl.

"Hey, you two," she said.

"Us?" Ninten reassured, using a finger to point at himself.

"Yes, come here, both of you," the girl said. She led us to the lonely hall that led to the path of the cafeteria, where no one was at; even the art, technology, and choir teachers were not at the door for the moment.

"What does the great Kumatora want from us?" Ninten happily asked.

"Oh hush you," she replied. "This is important. It's about Leila."

When I heard her name, my morning sleepiness died. "What about her?"

"Okay, so, I was at the sleepover at her party," she began, "and I believe you and that guy, Ness, right? You both were there, right?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"Um, look at this..." she took out her phone and showed us a picture.

Ness and I kissing.

"W-What? H-How..." The rest of my words broke before I could say them.

"Apparently there was a hidden camera at the time she took this," Kumatora explained. "When it was time to sleep, she put the boys in one room. She gathered the girls, including me, and sent us this picture. She said to keep it a secret, but she told us she was going to post this picture everywhere on the school tomorrow night."

...What?

"What do you mean tomorrow night?" Ninten asked. "Are you saying she's going to trespass school grounds when no one's here?"

"That's what I believe." Kumatora shut her phone and sighed. "First off, I think what she's doing is completely pathetic. She doesn't have the right to do something like that. Plus, I don't want her to ruin Ness' and your life," she said to me. "I, for one, think that you two make a good couple, but I don't think you'll enjoy the leftover two weeks of 8th grade when everybody knows about you two."

I appreciated Kumatora's information and feelings, but I was still stumped. "What do we do?" I asked.

"Well, I know that Leila's going to be at school at about midnight. I offered to help put up the pictures, but later I decided I was going to take them down. But because it'll be all over the school, it would be risky and take longer. So I was thinking that we should take them all down together."

"Midnight?" Ninten questioned. "I'd be so sleepy by then."

"Of course, you don't have to come, I mean, it's an easy job. I just have to wait for Leila and her friends to leave for good, and then I'll take them all down."

"I'll go," I said. "It's my fault, and I have to help fix this mess anyways. I don't want Ness in anymore trouble."

"Good," Kumatora said. "Ninten?"

"Sorry, I want to help, but I fall asleep easily." He put on a frown.

"It's okay Ninten," I said. "We'll be fine. But, how will we get to the school?"

"Oh, don't worry," she said. "Leave that to me." After that statement, the bell rang on cue. "Time to head to class. I'll pick you up tomorrow night at eleven-thirty, okay?"

"Okay," I replied. She zoomed off down the hall and went out of our sight. Ninten and I resumed our path to the gym.

I did not bother to tell Ness. If for some reason that a police were to catch us late at night, I wouldn't want Ness involved, especially since his father was a part of the police. I only wanted me to be the one in trouble.

When I told Claus, he wanted to come along as well. But he had to keep Mom and Dad ignorant of my missing presence. And when he suggested that Ninten should tell his father about this, I believed so too, until I told him that Ninten didn't believe it was a good idea because Leila's father could use his power to save his daughter, and then Leila would become extremely aware about us knowing her secret with Ness, and might develop a plan that would be much more full-proof. So, it was just Kumatora and myself.

At least, until she told me one more person was helping.

When 11:25 arrived tomorrow night, I was thankful that Mom and Dad did not hear anything as I left through the front door. A black car approached from down the street and stopped at my house. Kumatora sat in the passenger seat, next to a bearded man who had a serious, yet sleepy face.

"Hey'a Lucas," she said. "This is my honeybun, Duster. Say hi to him."

I waved at him, and he replied with a gentle "Hello."

Boney rushed up from behind me and barked at the car, which forced me to hush him with one command. He obeyed and sat.

"Oh, he's so obedient," Kumatora commented.

"He is," I added. "He understands to me very well. It's like he knows how to speak English."

"Really...?" She looked at Boney for a moment, and then her faced changed into a bright smile. "Do you think he can be our guard while we take down the pictures? He could bark a few times or something to alert us if someone is coming."

"Sure, he can do that. Right, Boney?" He wagged his tail and barked lightly.

"All right, come on in," Kumatora said. Boney and I hopped into the backseat and awaited the next order.

"When we get at the school, you two lie down so that the others don't see you. I have a blanket here that'll help as well, but you cannot move, and you cannot make a sound. Understood?"

Boney and I nodded. With that, we headed off to the school.

When we arrived, there was no sign of anybody except for two cars. Two of which carried four girls each, and they had all began to exit once we arrived.

"Okay, you know the plan," said Kumatora. Boney positioned himself to fit in the space between the driver's seat and the backseat, and I did the same. It was very uncomfortable, too, but I had to manage. I also had trouble breathing after I had the blanket tossed over my head. However, I did as told, for the sake of Ness' future, and my future as well.

"Don't move until I say so," Kumatora whispered. She closed the door lightly, and headed off with the others.

It felt like several hours had passed, because I began to fall asleep from seeing blackness constantly. I attempted to keep myself awake by breaking the quiet rule.

"Duster," I whispered.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"How do you know Kumatora?" I asked.

"Oh, we met at a café a few months ago," he replied. "She was the tomboy I always dreamed of, and I was the crippled guy she always wanted to meet."

"Crippled?" I questioned. "What do you mean?"

"My leg," he said. "I limp around a lot because I had a soccer injury last year."

"Oh, I see..."

"The weird thing is," he added, "I may look like I'm limping, but I can still run pretty fast," he added.

"It doesn't hurt or anything?"

"Just a little, but I got used to it."

The conversation ended there as I yawned. I should be asleep by now, since ten o' clock was the strict curfew. But each time I felt my eyes shutting, I kept thinking of Ness. The thought of his ruined future terrified me, so I had to keep awake.

When I finally heard a car slam, I perked up. The car began to roll away, and the same applied to the second car. Kumatora got in the car.

"Okay, Duster, you know what to do," she said. "You two, how you holding?"

"Sleepy," I said.

"Sorry, we'll get to work soon. We just got to let Leila know that we're leaving the school grounds." Duster began to drive. All I could hear was the wheel grind with the ground, and its soft rumble forced me to nap. I blacked out to the black blanket.

When I heard a car door opening again, I woke up. This time, I finally got out of the car, and stretched myself awake quietly.

"Put this on," Kumatora said to me. I turned around and was handed a pair of glasses. When I put them on, my vision turned green and bright. They were nightvision glasses.

"Oh wow..." I said, "where'd you get these?"

"Duster," she replied. "Ain't that right honeybun?"

"Mmhm." He put on his glasses and headed to the back wall of the school. Even though he looked like he limped, he dashed with great speed and gentle sound. His movement was unbelievable.

Boney laid on the car seat and kept his ears open wide. Kumatora and I left the car and went to begin the mission.

When I met the first picture, I was first disgusted by how it was here in the first place. But, I was torn with the feelings of admiration from kissing Ness. Oh, how enjoyable it was.

I retained my focus and tore the picture down. I ripped off the picture next to it as well. It was all over the school, but I gathered the trash and kept it in my hands.

My eyes began to fail halfway through the night, but by then I was grateful that Kumatora let me rest. I headed back to the car and lied down, watching the two of them finish ripping off the leftover posters. As soon as I saw them return, I was relieved to finally leave the place.

"Are they all gone?" I asked.

"I believe so," Kumatora said. "Leila said she was only going to do the outside parts of the school, and I checked every brick on this building."

"Okay then," I said, followed by a yawn. Kumatora laughed at me.

"Let's get you home now," she said.

Once we made a second check that a single picture was not on the school walls, Duster and Kumatora drove Boney and I back at our home. I thanked them for this before they drove off the street. Then, as Boney settled himself inside the house, I headed to my room without making a sound. As I reached Claus' door, I could hear his voice.

"You like it when I call you 'babe', huh? ...Heh, fine. I'll call you 'babe' as soon as you fix Ness' issue. ...Deal! ...All right, good night, _babe_." I heard a beep and then a toss in his bed. I knocked on the door lightly, and he whispered, "Who is it?"

"It's me, I'm back," I replied.

I waited for a moment, heard a few quiet footsteps, and Claus opened the door slightly.

"You finished?" he asked.

"Yeah, but did Mom or Dad suspect anything?" I questioned.

"Nope. Dad did get up one time to go to the bathroom, but I faked wanting to go the bathroom too. As I watched him before I went in, he didn't check in on your door, so you were okay."

"Okay, good. I'm gonna sleep now."

"All right, g'night bro," he said.

"Good night," I responded.

I headed back into my room quietly. I didn't bother putting on my pajamas, and just fell asleep on my bed.


	18. Unbreakable Bond

**Lenne**: Sorry for not updating sooner~ I was focused on some other stuff. But here you are!

Also, warning, a few bits of improper language.

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><p><span>Chapter 18: Unbreakable Bond<span>

Claus and I were on our way to school once more. I was still sleepy from the work last night, so I slept on the bus along the way.

Unconsciously, I could hear Ninten bothering Claus with usual, although with more love. Some people questioned their relationship too, but the reaction was a blur to my sleepy ears.

When we arrived at school, I met unexpected glances. They were familiar faces too; I remember seeing them at Leila's party. I kept wondering if it was about the kiss that happened during the party, and it probably was the reason. Still, I thought that event would have been forgotten already.

I headed to my locker and opened it to put away my belongings. However, there were a few colored folded notes inside. They were never there yesterday. I picked them up and opened them, only to find horrible messages.

_"Go to hell, homo!"_

_"Homooooo! Go choke on a dick why don't you?"_

_"Faggot! Better not stare at my ass in gym!"_

My eyes shifted back and forth between each message. How could anyone say these things? Well, they were private notes, but they weren't going to be private once I reported them. I stuffed them in the corner of my locker to use for later. Suddenly, I heard laughter. Laughter that were directed at me. I looked to my right, and found three or four guys pointing at me once our eyes made contact. Then, they walked away.

I was both bewildered and disturbed. I ignored As I took one more look, I noticed something missing. I looked to my left.

He wasn't there.

Ness would be standing here to greet me for whatever reason he had, whether it'd be daily life or our class projects. Yet, he was not here. Why?

"Lucas," I heard. A deep man's voice. A voice I did not usually hear within the 8th grade hall.

I turned around to meet a brown-suited man. His voice sounded gently booming, but his normal expression was of a glaring lion.

"Y-Yes?" I replied.

"Please come with me," he said.

I feared for the worse. I knew it was the worse when I read the man's name tag: "Assistant Principal Hansard."

I followed the man through the hall, passing by Claus' and Ninten's appalled expressions. We entered the main office, and placed me in a seat, right in front of Mrs. Baez. She was surprised to see me too, and couldn't believe what she was ordered.

"Tell Zamora that Lucas is here," said the assistant principal. He left the office without another word.

"What happened, Lucas?" asked Mrs. Baez.

"I don't know," I replied. She had a confused and worried look, but sat back down and dialed the phone. In a few seconds, she spoke.

"Miss Zamora? Lucas is here. ...Okay. ...Okay." She hung up the phone and watched the door. The woman in control of the school opened the door, and gestured her hand gently to lure me in.

"Come in, Lucas," she said. Frightened, I headed inside, not only discovering the principal's office for the first time, but to also meet Kumatora once more.

"Kumatora?" I questioned. She nodded calmly, as if she didn't care about the situation right now.

Zamora closed the door and sat in her desk. "Sit, Lucas," she commanded. I did as told.

"Am I in trouble?" I asked in a haste.

She turned to grab something from her drawer. "Well, do you think you are in trouble?"

I shivered in place, and nodded slowly.

"And why is that?" she questioned immediately.

"I-I...I'm not certain..." I felt like all the pressure engulfed me.

"Well then, can you tell me what this is?" she grabbed a piece of paper, holding a hidden image on its other side. When she placed it on the table, she flipped it.

My mouth dropped.

The horror.

The horror of Ness, and myself.

"W-Wh...wh..." I couldn't manage to sound anything.

"I see you know this picture?" she supposed. I nodded slowly, almost wanting to cry. "Then, can you tell me why this picture posted in the _cafeteria_, the _band room_, the _choir's hall_, _and_ the _theater hall_?

I shook my head. "I don't know...I never...I..."

"Oh, so you didn't go inside the school last night to hang these pictures?" She slipped another paper on the desk. It was an unbelieveable photo. The setting was in the dark insides of the school, but the figure holding fliers of pictures had my hair style and my hair color.

I shook my head again. "No, no...I never went inside the school!"

"Miss Zamora," said Kumatora. "I told you already, that photo is impossible."

"And yet you still won't tell me why, so, I thought Lucas would explain." Even if I did do it, I couldn't because my heart thumped too much to react.

"Okay, fine, you want the truth?" she began. "Lucas and I went to the school last night to take down that photo because Leila and her friends were hanging them on the school walls first."

Principal Zamora looked at me. "Is this true?"

"Y-Yes..."

She looked a little surprised. "Why would you say that Leila did this?"

Kumatora sat up to ensure her reason was to be believed. "Because she did. I witnessed her saying that she would, and I witnessed her doing it as well."

"So, regardless whether she did it or not, you admit that you trespassed school grounds during the night?"

"Yes, but we only did it to try and prevent this photo from appearing all over the school."

"Is what she saying, true, Lucas?" asked the principal.

I nodded, hoping for the best outcome.

"You both do realize I can call in the police, and they will one, review the security cameras inside the school, and two, check for hand or finger prints outside the school. Are you both being honest with me right now?"

We nodded, while Kumatora said "yes" as well.

"Very well," she said. "Then what about this picture?" She directed our attention to the figure of my hair.

"We don't know, we never went inside the school," Kumatora replied. "We had no intention to anyway."

The principal looked at us and sighed. "All right, fine, you're both free. However, I am ordering that you go home right now."

"W-Why?" I questioned.

"Well, firstly, you trespassed on campus during midnight, and that is a one-day suspension," she said. Principal Zamora grabbed the two pictures and put them in a yellow envelope. "However, Lucas, this is your first offense, and I know about your excellence in school, so I will make sure that the suspension will not affect your outstanding record in any way." She put the envelope down.

I accepted that notion. "Then, what's the second reason?"

"For your own safety, Lucas," she said. "I am well aware of the social disorder about homosexuality, and how it is despised by many in this school. I don't think you deserve to learn today if you're going to take insults in return."

"I'll be fine," I said. "I can ignore them."

"Well even if you say so, you still have to go home, because you're suspended for the day. You too, Kumatora."

Kumatora sighed and smiled. "Fine, fine, not like I have anything better to do."

"Would you like a one-week suspension instead?"

"No thanks! I'll take my leave now." She stood up and began to head towards the door.

"Do you have a ride home, Lucas?" asked the principal. I shook my head again.

"We only have one car, and my dad is at work right now."

"Oh, then I can take you home Lucas," said Kumatora.

"Very well, be sure that he gets home safe," she said. I stood up and headed to Kumatora's side.

"If he does, then do I get a reward?"

"No, just go." Kumatora headed out of the office, but before I stepped out, I was stopped.

"Lucas," called the principal.

"Yes?" I turned around. She came up to me.

"I don't believe I have seen Ness today," she said. "Are you able to check on him?"

My eyes widened. Ness was absent. "I could check, but can I ask why you are concerned for him?"

"Well, he was my assistant last year, and he is an excellent student just like you. Perfect attendance, good grades, and professionally athletic. That is why I find it unusual for him to not attend, but I think we both might know why."

I nodded. "I'll check on him anyways. Thank you, Miss Zamora."

"All right, go on now. Don't make me suspend you for three days."

I weakly giggled and left in a hurry. Currently it was first period, and the halls were clear. It allowed me to arrive at my locker with ease and pick up my backpack as Kumatora called her boyfriend. We both waited in front of the school until Duster came in his car. We headed inside and drove back to our homes.

"So, everything okay?" asked Duster.

"Meh, another suspension," replied Kumatora.

"What do you mean, 'another'?" I asked.

"Oh, you won't believe the trouble this girl has been in—" Kumatora slapped Duster's shoulder to shut him up. I giggled at his reaction.

"So you want us to drop you off at your home?" asked Kumatora.

"No," I replied. "I need to see Ness."

"Well, where's his house?" inquired Duster.

"It's across the ball park near my home," I answered.

"Oh, I know where the park is," Kumatora mentioned. "Just drive, honey, I'll tell you where."

We arrived at my neighborhood, and passed my house as Kumatora gave Duster the directions to the park. Once we arrived, I was let off at the corner of an intersection.

"You want us to wait for you?" asked Kumatora. "After you finish we can drive you back home."

"I'll be fine, don't worry. Thanks guys."

"See you later then, Lucas," said Duster.

"Take care!" exclaimed Kumatora. They left the street and were out of my sight as they turned a corner.

I walked to Ness' house, and first met King. He barked at me once with an aggressive tone, but after I crouched down down, he recognized my friendliness. I knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. Soon, Ness' mom appeared.

"Oh, Lucas?" she questioned. "You're not at school?"

"I got suspended, but it isn't a big deal," I replied.

"Oh goodness, does your mother know?"

"I don't know, but I need to see Ness." I leaned left and right for a preview of the inside home. "Is he okay? Is he sick?"

"I don't actually know, he hasn't come out of bed today," she replied. "In fact, I don't think I've seen him leave his room. I was about to call his father."

"Can I see him?" I asked.

"You can, but I don't know if he will." She led me inside, offering to take my backpack. I allowed her to set it down as I went upstairs to Ness' door.

I knocked on it a few times. "Ness?" I called. "Are you there?" No answer. "It's me, Lucas." Still no answer. Suddenly, I heard a small creak.

"Ness? Can I come in?" I waited for another answer, until I heard light footsteps. The doorknob opened, and revealed Ness behind the door in his pajamas.

"What're you doing here?" he asked.

"I came to see you," I replied. He shifted his eyes away from me, widened the doorway and allowed me inside. The room was shaded with a blue darkness. I wandered around trying to find a place to sit, until Ness closed the door and sat on the bed. He patted the space next to him that I could sit there.

"So, what is it?" he asked.

"You know what," I responded. "Why aren't you at school?"

He stared at me, silent. Then, he grabbed his phone under his pillow and flipped through its text messages. He passed it to me, and I read the contents.

_"Cant believe that you're a homo! LOL!"_

_"Whoa bro! Don't come near me today!"_

_"Never knew you were gay. SO lameeee!"_

_"I bet you sucked a cock before didnt you :)"_

And the rest were on the same level of horrible.

"Stupid, huh?" Ness mumbled.

"Huh?"

"They're all stupid..." Ness stated. I had no response as I continued to flip through the messages. The most earliest one was the worse of all.

_"Why dontcha come to school 2day? Everyone's gonna love knowing that you're gay! :)"_ It was a picture message, displaying Ness and myself on the walls of the cafeteria.

And the message was from Leila.

"...Stupid Leila," I commented.

"I know, right?"

...

I reached for the pillow and placed the phone back under it, and then shifted my attention to Ness. Throughout the few minutes, he only stared at his lap. His darkened face admitted defeat. It must have been devastating to feel that everyone hates you.

I embraced Ness with my two arms. He made no response.

"Ness, don't feel sad."

"I know, I just don't know what to do. We've got nothing on Leila right now."

"We still have Ninten's father," I said. "It's okay Ness, he'll get onto Leila soon—"

"And just how long is that going to take?" he responded, raising his voice. He slipped out of my arms and crashed onto his pillow. "Our school life is going to be horrible from now on. Who knows? It'll probably get even worse through high school. I should just quit right now."

"Ness, no," I said. "There's a lot of people who'll accept us, we just have to find them. And...and I'm sure Ninten is working really hard to bust Leila and his dad. Just have some faith."

"What's the use?" Ness replied. "The rest of our 8th grade life is already ruined. What happens if my mom and dad find out? What happens if _your_ mom and dad find out? What if the whole country finds out about us?"

"Ness...I'm sorry. I never meant for you to get hurt..." I didn't know what more to say. I knew this was all my fault. If I had never shown up in his life, this would have never happened to him. He would have continued being the excellent baseball player he was, being everyone's favorite guy, and a role model for popularity. I stared at him staring at the ceiling, watching all of his hope slowly drain away. I didn't want to see him any longer like this. I wanted that one boy back.

I looked away for a moment to find a peculiar piece of paper attached to the wall above the television. Its faint color was very familiar to my eyes. I stood up, and headed closer to examine it. On the corner of the paper was a star. The contents?

Ness and myself.

I took the picture off the wall and brought it back to Ness. He saw what I was holding.

"You actually kept it?" I asked.

"Yeah." He rolled over to lay on his side. I sat down in front of his stomach.

"Why?" I questioned with a small grin.

"Because..."

"Because?"

"...I liked you back then." My smile grew slightly bigger. I set the picture down and lightly grabbed Ness' shoulder.

"Do you still like me now?"

"..." He sat up and sighed. "No. I love you."

I looked into his honest, violet eyes. "Do you really love me?"

"I do."

"Then prove it."

I wanted him to get over his doubt for Ninten's help. Instead, he kissed me. It was a warm, loving, and passionate kiss. It was better than the answer that I had wanted.

We pulled away and he pulled me in for a tight embrace. I sat there in his arms, never wanting to leave him.

"I'm sorry, Luke," he said. "All this... is my fault."

"No it isn't," I assured, "and don't worry, we're going to reveal the truth about Leila. I'll make sure of it."

I could feel the embrace become tighter. I didn't mind suffocating in his arms, but I snuggled against his body to loosen the grip.

"Hey Luke," Ness whispered.

"Yeah?"

"You know about the Spring Dance tomorrow night, right?"

"Oh...I completely forgot about it." Ness chuckled, and held me closer.

"Do you wanna go with me?"

I wasn't sure what he just said. "What?"

"Do you wanna go with me to the Spring Dance?" he asked again.

I pulled away from our embrace, showed a smile of everlasting bliss, and gave him my answer.

And we kissed once more.


	19. Asthma Attack

**Lenne: **A short chapter, but here's a small update for you guys. I'm just letting you know we're nearing the good ending for the story~ I hope to finish the story very soon; I may plan to continue later in the week. I think I have one more chapter to go; two if feel like there should be an epilogue. Anyways, enjoy...maybe.

Enjoy the ClausXNinten. :3

**12/26 Update:** Claus wears a white (not beige) coat for his tuxedo now now, yay. Revu and I believe Claus looks better like so :3~

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><p><span>Chapter 19: Asthma Attack<span>

"I still can't believe my boys are going to their first dance!" exclaimed Mom.

She finished fixing my bow-tie and then resumed combing my hair.

"Mom, that's good enough," I said.

"All right, all right." She took one look at me and then another. Claus poked his head through the door to save me.

"I think he looks good enough, Mom," he said.

"Mm, I guess you're right," she agreed. She took all of her beauty supplies and exited the room. I walked up to Claus and nervously smiled.

"Thanks," I said.

"No problem," he replied. "Do you think Ninten will like this?"

He was wearing a stylish tuxedo just like I was, only, he wore a white coat while I wore a black coat. Our coats were over a white dress shirt, finished a black bow-tie, and then black dress pants with matching dress shoes. As some people would say, we were dressed as penguins.

"Yeah, I think he definitely would," I replied.

He smiled brightly and then tapped my arm. "Thanks. I'm sure Ness will like yours, too."

I blushed, imagining the thought of his compliments.

We headed downstairs to meet Mom with a camera, and Dad looking at us proudly. We were both confused and somewhat annoyed; it was just a dance, but as parents, they wouldn't realize the simple meaning of it.

As Claus and I posed for our picture, Dad asked, "So, who are the lucky girls that you're going with?"

At first, we didn't want to comment because of how wrong the question was. But we had to answer or they would get suspicious.

"It's a secret, we'll tell you about them later," Claus responded.

"Oh, they must be very happy to go with you," Mom commented. She snapped the last picture before Boney barked from outside. A car honked from the almost darkened streets.

Claus and I rushed outside to find a blue van running by our house. We both knew who were in the van because I asked them to take us to the dance. Duster lowered the window to wave at us.

"There's our ride," Claus said. "Gotta go!"

"You boys have fun now!" Dad exclaimed.

"Be safe!" Mom commented.

"We will!" I replied.

Claus and I entered the van's inner seats and sat down. Once the doors were closed, we headed off to pick up our next rider.

Kumatora turned her head to us. "So, how are you both doing?" she asked.

"Fine, thanks," answered Claus.

"You both excited?" asked Duster.

"I guess," I replied.

Duster drove onwards on the street to stop at Ninten's house. We parked behind a red sports car, only to find that Ninten wasn't outside in front of the house. Claus got out of the car to knock on the door. As I looked through the window, Ninten's two sisters appeared at the door, looking up and down Claus' attire before he demanded their brother to come down. And as expected, Ninten arrived in a hurry, wearing a dark blue tuxedo, and smiled at Claus' appearance.

I opened the van door to go meet with them, beginning to listen on their small talk.

"You look nice," Claus said with a seductive smile.

"Th-Thanks," Ninten responded. I saw the hidden blush on his face, meaning he must have felt really happy from hearing the compliment, or he was really impressed by Claus' handsomeness.

"Ready to go?" Claus extended his hand out, and Ninten grabbed it without hesitation. His giddy smile didn't fail to amuse me.

Ninten waved at me as he began to walk towards me with Claus, also complimenting my looks as well, and detailing how Ness was sure to like it. Duster waved at us to hurry up, and so we picked up the pace and headed back to the van.

The moment we arrived, however, the red sports car began to emit light from its back. Its wheels roared and ground against the cemented street. The force the driver had exerted caused a massive smoke cloud to exit from its exhaust as the car drove away.

The smoke reached us; we had to cover our noses and wave away the stench.

"Eugh!" Kumatora sounded. "That reeks!"

"Ugh, they must be in a hurry," Duster grumbled before a cough.

I made no comment and continued to block the smell.

"Whew!" Claus said. "That was nasty. You okay Nin..."

Ninten was on the ground, coughing numerous times.

"Ninten?" Claus' voice filled with worry. Everyone else was silent to hear Ninten's slow but loud breathing. He continued to wheeze loudly as he held onto Claus' legs.

"What's wrong, Ninten?" I asked. Claus and I got to his level to see if there was anything we could do. But we couldn't; we didn't know what was happening so suddenly.

Kumatora jumped out of her seat and ran around the van to check on him. "Did the smoke do this to him?!" she exclaimed.

"Is he having an asthma attack?" Duster immediately questioned.

"Asthma?!" Claus exclaimed. Ninten continued to wheeze as his right hand clutched Claus' shoulders. Then, his left arm began making an attempted movement for his jacket pocket. He reached for an object inside, and pulled out an object. He attempted to bring it towards his face, but he dropped it onto the ground.

Immediately, one of Ninten's sisters dashed out of the door. "I heard a car outside, what happened?" Then, she saw Ninten on the ground. "Ninten!" She looked at the dropped object on the ground, "Give him his inhaler!" she responded.

Claus grabbed the inhaler, removed the cap and inserted the pipe into Ninten's mouth.

Ninten's sister came running and wrapped her arm on Ninten's back. "Breathe, Ninten!" she exclaimed. "Push the button, right there!"

Claus did as told and pushed the button on the inhaler. Ninten's eyes were shut throughout the situation, but after using the inhaler, his breathing calmed down and he could see what was going on. He grabbed the inhaler and kept it in his mouth, as if prepared to use it again. Seconds later, he took it out of his mouth and exhaled.

"You okay, Ninten?" Claus asked. Ninten said nothing and hugged Claus. At my sight, I saw tears in his eyes. Then he moved his head to hide them on Claus' shoulders. "There, there...it's all right now."

"I almost died..." Ninten whispered. Claus patted his back and comforted him on the spot. I watched in both relief and worry—we were both glad Ninten was fine, but I could tell how Ninten was feeling right now.

"Was it the red car that did this to him?" asked Ninten's sister. I nodded at her, and then her eyes grew serious. "Minnie!" she called.

Ninten's other sister exited the home to discover the situation. "What happened?"

"Get that car's license plate," she said.

"Okay!" she ran back in the house.

"You wrote down the car's license plate?" Duster asked.

"It was just in case," replied Ninten's sister. "We saw the car park in front of our house, and we didn't know who it was. We wrote it down in case the person inside was up to no good."

"That's great then, you can catch whoever it was that did this to him, right?" Claus asked.

"Yeah, we should, but right now, Ninten needs to rest." Ninten's sister helped him up, but Ninten shrugged her off and returned to Claus' arms.

"I'm okay, I can still go to the dance," he said.

"You don't look okay though," Claus mentioned. He was right: Ninten's face was somewhat pale, and slightly blue.

"I'm f...f-fine, Clausy, we can go," replied Ninten.

Claus sighed, and lifted Ninten's body up. He carried him as Ness had done to me; like a bride. "You're going to rest and that's final. I'll stay with you, don't worry."

Ninten made no comment and shut his eyes in defeat. He accepted the decision. "Lucas," he said, "tell Ness that my dad found out something about Leila and her father; they're going to be in trouble soon."

"Will do," I said.

He smiled at me. "Have fun at the dance," he said. Claus carried him inside his home as his sister shut the door behind them.

Kumatora walked around back to her seat. I entered the van, closed the door, and sat down.

"Poor guy," Kumatora said.

"He'll be fine, don't worry," Duster reassured. "Let's just go to the dance and have fun like he wants us to."

"You're right," I agreed.

Kumatora smiled. "All right, let's go pick up Ness and then we'll head to the school."

Duster resumed the engine and continued the short drive on the street. As we drove off, I gave my last thanks for Ninten as his house exited my sight.


	20. The Spring Dance

**Lenne**: The moment you all have anticipated!

Enjoy!

_Warning: Some minor language._

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><p><span>Chapter 20: The Spring Dance<span>

Once we arrived at Ness' house, I got out of the car immediately and hurried to the door, hearing Kumatora and Duster giggle at me as they watched my rush. I took a deep breath, exhaled, and pressed the doorbell.

The moment I heard the ring echo through the house, chills ran through my body. I was so nervous. I didn't know who was going to answer the door. Ness? His sister? His mother? Whoever it was, I didn't know what to say.

The door finally clicked, and it slowly slided open. I blinked for a long second, and once I opened my eyes, my heart almost raced.

Ness stood there, arms behind his back, smiling. It was his usual smile, but everything about him was very different. He wore the black tuxedo that I had pointed out to Ness' mother weeks ago, though the only difference was that there was a blue rose on the flap of his suit, and not only that, he looked so handsome in my eyes. He didn't wear his favorite hat, which surprised me even though I knew the event was formal, but I could see the faint pattern of his groomed hair that had made his whole appearance shine even brighter. His skin and clothes seemed untouched, as if they had always been pure. And finally, his fragrance; his pleasant scent was replaced by a masculine cologne that I instantly liked.

My mouth fell slightly ajar. I couldn't close it.

"You seem surprised," he said.

I snapped out of my trance and returned to the normal world. "You...look amazing," I managed to say.

"Why thank you," he said. "But, I have to say, you look a lot cuter."

My face glowed red. "Th-Thanks."

"This will make you look even better," he said. He revealed his hands at me. He carried a red rose, a perfect boutonniere for my suit. He stepped closer and pinned the rose on the flap of my tuxedo.

"Perfect," he said. My heart filled with warmth, now recognizing how equally fashionable our tuxedos were.

Soon after, Ness' mother popped up from the living room and approached the door. "My my, Lucas, you look very handsome."

"Thank you," I replied.

She giggled. "You're right Ness, you do make a cute couple."

"Told you," he responded.

"Well, you both have fun now," she said as she walked away.

My mind was still processing what had happened. Ness' mother knew about us? Did Ness tell her?

Ness knew what was on my mind and answered for me, "She already knew I was... um... well she thinks I'm bisexual."

"Oh...okay," I replied.

Nothing was said for the moment. Ness shut the door behind him and just watched me, as if he waited for me to hug him or something. I did want to, but I felt like my feet were glued on the ground at the moment.

"Ninten said his dad caught Leila and her dad for something," I managed to say.

Ness' expression changed. "Really? That's great then! What for?"

"I don't know," I replied. I looked down at his chest, and moved my sight downwards to his feet.

"Something wrong?" Ness asked. I didn't reply. I just stood there.

"Hey, lovebirds!" Kumatora shouted. "Ready to go?"

Ness leaned to his right, "Yeah, we're coming!" As he held my hand, we walked towards the van. He opened the door for me and allowed me inside first like a gentleman. Once we settled in, Duster continued the drive to our destination.

"Luke," Ness whispered.

"Yeah?" I responded.

"Are you scared?" he asked.

"...Yeah." I was honestly afraid of what was going to happen at the dance. Leila was certainly going to be there. But it's not just her; it's everyone else who dislikes homosexuals. There was no doubt that we were going to meet trouble.

However, all the worries ended as soon as Ness gripped my hand.

"I'll protect you from now on," he said. "I promise."

His smile didn't cease to warm my heart. If it weren't for the seatbelts, I would have hugged him tightly right now.

The darkened sky enchanted me to fall asleep on the way to the dance, but the moment we were arrived at the school, I woke up, finding many students walking towards the school in suits, blouses, and dresses. More people began to appear as we parked in the school lot. They either stayed at their vehicle for a long moment, or headed to the front of the school to head inside. There was just so many people scattered around.

I started to feel even more nervous. If I had the power to fly, I would fly straight home—no, I would fly away from the world. I'd take Ness with me and do it right now. As we began to exit the car, however, Ness reassured me again; he held my hand and gave me a loving gaze. Then I felt his thoughts: Ness wanted to fight. He didn't want to run away anymore. He didn't want to escape from the torment, but couldn't do it alone; he needed me to fight too. And that was what I was going to do.

Ness exited the car with me and held my hand. He gripped it tight as if he didn't want to let go. As Kumatora did with Duster, I held onto Ness' arm as we walked towards the school entrance. Eyes of passersby had already glanced at us—all apathetic, disdained, or entertained. I attempted to ignore them, even though their stares harmed my tender sanity.

The dance was located in the gym. We made our way through the school and reached the gym doors. As we neared them, the flashing colorful lights became more conspicuous through the doors' windows. Duster opened the doors and allowed us to enter first. The upbeat music blared into our ears as soon as we stepped in. A popular song, I thought, it needed a crowd to create the fun. It was not my best interest to dance with many others, nor was it my best interest to dance in the first place. I just wanted to stay on the sidelines and watch everyone else have fun.

"We'll go on ahead!" Kumatora yelled to us, "Call us if you need anything!" She dragged Duster into the crowd and wildly shook her arms up in the air.

I looked at Ness while clutching Ness' hand tighter. He felt my fear. He felt how I didn't want to go into the cloud of people and show off our uniqueness.

Ness faced me and lightly gripped both of my arms, "It'll be okay, Luke," he began. "I swear that I'll protect you from anyone that tries to hurt you."

I lightly smiled, wanting to tear up a bit. I shook my head to rid the anxiety, ready to face everyone.

Suddenly, the song slowed its pace, and so did everyone else. Couples on the sidelines began to approach the dance floor, and joined the slow rhythm of the music.

A slow song. Perfect, I thought.

I tugged on Ness' hand, signaling him that I was ready to march forward. He smiled and led the way to the battlefield. When we reached an open spot on the floor, we faced each other, and held each other's hips. He held onto me with much love, smiled, and started the pace of our dance. I followed his pattern, and I became confident in not only my dancing skill, but my pride as well.

As the song continued, we waltzed left and right, adding a couple elegant spins to impress those that had been watching us. Those who had noticed us continued dancing as they watched, or backed away, concluding in a large open space for us. The gap attracted the attention of many other people, and then they were directed to us. I endured the progressing attention, but the people who were disgusted by us grew faster in number. I wanted to stop, but I couldn't, not because I didn't know how to stop, but Ness didn't want to.

Soon, I saw familiar people, the first being part of Ness' baseball team and his baseball fans. They sneered and pointed in private, but the moment they met Ness' cold stare, they turned away and pretended as if nothing had happened. Then, I saw Ness' friend, Jeff, and his friend, Tony, who silently waved at us while holding hands. I would guess that they were also a couple too, and must be applauding us for our bravery. Ness' other friends, Paula, Poo, and Ninten's friends, Loid, Ana, and everyone else that we befriended at school, were somewhat appalled at first, but they all concluded with proud glances.

As soon as the song ended, we halted our dance. Applaud was first made by Duster and Kumatora, and then joined by our friends. The cheer continued to grow with strangers who also appreciated our confidence, and then influenced those who had disliked us at first. We smiled throughout the praise, now happy that we had bravely fought through a dangerous field.

"Well, well, well," we heard. "Who would have thought the queers would show up?"

The voice was very familiar. We turned immediately to the direction, and out from the crowd came Leila and a few of her friends.

"What do you want?" Ness questioned.

"Just wanting to know why you bothered showing up with this loser," Leila answered.

"He's not a loser; _you_ are," Ness retorted.

"Oh really? I'm not the fag here," responded Leila. A few students, and a couple teachers who paid attention were appalled by her shameless mouth.

"Well, I'm not the drama queen here," retorted Ness. Many people agreed with that statement and cheered for him. However, Leila didn't move her expression. Instead, a cheerleader friend defended her.

"At least she's not a stupid, gay jerk unlike you!" she responded.

Ness smiled, "At least I can get a boyfriend, unlike you." I couldn't stop myself from laughing with everyone.

"I bet all he wants is dick," said one of Leila's male friends. "Y'wanna suck my cock, faggot?"

Ness chuckled, "Wow, you must be really desperate." Others, including me, giggled at that reaction.

"Bitch, you know you're going to hell for this, right?" stated another male.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll save you a seat on my lap." Ness finished with a wink as everyone cheered again. I hugged him tighter, admiring his bravery.

Leila gnarled with frustration at her friends, and then turned back to Ness. "I'll give you one more chance Ness; come back to me and I'll get your dad promoted...oh, and I'll buy you a better house too!"

"No thanks," Ness responded, "I don't feel like taking charity from a narcissist."

Leila's growl became more distinct as she stamped her foot. A few teachers looked like as if they were about to intervene. Instead, they stopped after seeing one adult approach us. He wore a gray, formal suit, but from the looks of his face and brown hair, all of us could conclude he was Leila's father.

"Now, now, Ness," he said. "I thought you were supposed to treat my daughter better than this."

Ness sighed as he held me tighter. "Sorry, sir, but I rather not be with her; she's too crazy."

Then, Leila's father growled. "Do you not remember who I am? I will not tolerate you insulting my daughter!"

"You're right," Ness said. "I should be insulting you instead—of course, she would get the craziness and control-freak personality from you."

"That is it," he said deeply. He pulled on Ness' shoulder, but he shrugged it off while trying to hold onto me. We struggled together, trying to push him away from us, until a loud, deep voice echoed throughout the gym.

"Hold it right there!" we heard. We turned to the gym entrance to find a tall, brown-coated man, another tall, black-coated man, two police officers, and finally, Claus and Ninten.

"Claus? Ninten?" I exclaimed.

"Looks like you're having fun," Claus said, holding Ninten close to him.

"Dad?!" Ness exclaimed.

"Hello, Ness," replied the black-coated man.

"Ah—you!" blurted Leila's father. "And just who are you?"

"I'm this boy's father," said the brown-coated man, pointing to Ninten, "and as well as commander of my station in Podunk."

"Wait a second," called a woman. Principal Zamora entered the scene from the other side of the crowd and walked to the officers. "What are the police doing here? And from another town?"

"My apologies for crashing the party, Principal Zamora, but I am here to arrest Gabriel Trevett and his daughter, Leila Trevett."

"Them?" Everyone looked at Leila and her dad in shock. "For what reasons?"

"Leila framed those two boys over there," replied Ninten's father. "Also, not only has her father has been abusing power in his station, but he tried to kill my son."

"Absurd!" cried Gabriel. "I have never been near your son!"

"Of course you haven't," replid Ninten's father. "That is why you promised to promote one of your officers if he did it for you."

"And what makes you think I would do such a thing?" he responded.

"Because we tracked his license plate, and immediately got him to talk. He didn't feel like going to jail in your place, so he told us what you had offered him."

"That little—"

"Oh, but I'm not done yet," continued Ninten's father. He valiantly approached him, "That isn't your first abuse of power; in fact, if the facts are true, then you have been using this boy," he said, referring to Ness, "as some tool to make your daughter happy. And if he failed, you would fire his father from his job. Such blackmail is unacceptable, I thought you knew that?"

"Ngh!" grumbled Gabriel.

"Oh, but I'm not letting you leave without your daughter. Now, I did say she framed Ness and Lucas, correct?" Ninten's father called an officer to bring a wig in a bag, as well as a photo. "Is this not the same wig caught from this school photo?"

All of us took a close look. The photo was the same picture that Principal Zamora had shown me and Kumatora. When we looked at the wig, which was also in the same style as my hair, we all knew that someone purposely tried to frame me.

"And what if it is?" Leila replied.

"This is the same wig we found from the trash can at your house," responded Ninten's father. "Meaning, you broke into the school at night and posted the pictures of these two boys around the school. Knowing you would be caught on camera, you used this wig to mask yourself as if you were this boy," he pointed to me.

"Circumstantial," said Gabriel. "You can't completely prove that it was her in that photo."

"You're right," replied Ninten's father, "it might not be proven well, but there is one thing I can prove. Did you know she has been paying a boy to...oh, how can I say this appropriately...'pleasure' her?"

"W-What are you talking about?!" cried Leila.

Ninten's father smiled, as if he was enjoying this. "I'm talking about you paying your old friend, and may I emphasize 'old friend', Donnell from Threed?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" she responded.

"Then I suppose this isn't all of the $500 you paid for him to have sex with you?" He pulled out a wrapped wad of twenty-dollar bills.

"Wha—?!" retorted Leila.

"Wow, Leila, I never knew you would stoop to something so low," commented Ness.

"Shut up, you faggot!" she screamed. She jumped and tried to grab me, but Ness pulled me back in time for her father to hold her back. Ness' father quickly stepped in and grabbed Leila from her dad, and then took control of her arms.

"No! This is all a lie! I can't believe this!" Leila screamed. Her wrists were tightly gripped, wrapped to her back, and then sealed with metal cuffs. "Stop it! Let me go! LET. ME. GO!"

"Leila Trevett, you are under arrest for framing and prostitution," stated Ness' father.

Ninten's father grabbed Gabriel's wrists and cuffed them. "And Gabriel Trevett," he continued, "you are under arrest for malfeasance in office and attempted murder of a child."

Ninten ran up to his father and tugged on his coat. "Papa, can I read them their rights?"

His father smiled, "Sure. Let's go."

Ninten grinned, as if prepared to enjoy the next few moments. As they walked, Ninten spoke with a clear voice, "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney; if you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you by..." at that point he reached the gym doors, and we couldn't hear him clearly.

Many people followed them to watch the ultimate end for Leila and her father. As for the rest of the student body, they remained in the gym to recover from the surprising situation, chatting silently to their selves or wondering what to do next, now that there was very little people in the room.

Kumatora and Duster approached us, looking satisfied from the recent event.

"Wow, that was pretty intense," said Kumatora.

"Mhm," I nodded in agreement.

"At least she's gone," replied Ness.

"Speaking of which, let's go with everyone and watch her get taken away," Duster suggested.

"Oh, fine, fine," replied Kumatora. "See you both later!" They hurried off and went out the entrance doors.

I looked at Ness; his face was balanced between happiness and shock.

"I can't believe it," he said. "It's all over."

I nodded and grinned as he tightened his embrace around me. "It finally is," I whispered.

Claus and Ninten came running through the gym doors, and then scampered towards us.

"We did it!" Ninten yelled. He grabbed the attention of everyone in the gym as he tackled us both. We laughed in glee until Claus pulled him away.

"You're suppose to hug only me, _babe_," he said.

"Aww, don't be jealous, Clausy~" Ninten sang. Suddenly, Ninten's arms were adjusted so that he grabbed Claus' shoulders, and then his waist was grabbed in a waltz position.

"Wanna dance?" Claus asked. Blushing, Ninten eagerly nodded.

On cue, another slow song played. Other students still in the gym retreated to the sidelines, so on the dance floor, only Claus and Ninten stepped in rhythm to the song, and began to distance away from us as they danced. I looked at Ness, and he looked at me back with his brilliant smirk and shining eyes.

"May I have this dance?" he asked, holding up my hands.

"You may," I replied. I held onto Ness closely as we slowly moved together towards the center. His arms embraced me tighter, allowing me to sniff as much of his wonderful scent. I rested my head on his shoulder as we continued to hold each other.

We both knew for sure that we would forever enjoy remembering this night for the rest of our lives.

* * *

><p><strong>Lenne<strong>: Okay, so it's not the real ending. I have the final chapter to go. I promise you will all love it.

Actually you might hate me for it.

But whatever, stay tuned!


	21. Farewell

**Lenne: **...I'll give you my last words at the end of the story. Enjoy.

* * *

><p><span>Final Chapter: Farewell<span>

Kumatora and Duster took Ninten, Ness, Claus, and myself back to our home. Along the way, Ninten informed Claus and I that we may have to come out to our parents soon, because in order to ensure Leila and her father's conviction, we would need to testify in court. Meaning, our parents would have to know why we had to go testify. Claus and I decided to tell them that night, having our boyfriends by our side. We confronted Mom and Dad, and told them what had happened at the Spring Dance, and about our relationships. With no surprising reaction at all, they accepted us immediately. We asked why—and as the best parents would say, they only wanted our happiness.

The day after the Spring Dance came the last day of school, which also meant the 8th grade award ceremony and graduation for E.B. Junior High. With everyone at the auditorium, a handful of students were picked to be recognized for their academic or extracurricular achievement, and awarded with a certificate and medal. Those chosen sat on stage in chairs, while regular students remained in one part of the auditorium, watching.

Ness was awarded for "Best Athlete", and it was no doubt that he would have received it. Not only that, he received many cheers and applause throughout the room, disregarding the fact that his secret was out. Therefore, he stood with pride and smiled brightly.

He wasn't alone, though. I was chosen for "Best Student Assistant" by Mrs. Baez. Though not very well-acknowledged, I was still given praise for standing here with everyone else. I nervously smiled, watching Claus, Mom, Dad, and Ninten admiring me from afar.

After that night, we all celebrated together at a restaurant—my family, Ness' family, and Ninten and his father. Ness and I felt the celebration wasn't just for our graduation, but also for the end of Leila's scheme.

Speaking of Leila...

All of us appeared in court for the next few days. As Ninten had stated, Ness and I testified against Leila for her framing, and against her father for the blackmail scheme. I revealed I trespassed school grounds with Kumatora only to remove the pictures that Leila and her friends had posted. Ness detailed his torturous life with Leila to the prosecutor, which revealed many things I did not fully realize: Leila had fully implemented herself in Ness' life controlling his life since he was ten years old. She told Ness what to do, what not to do, what he should have done before, what he should do in the future for her, and all that stupid crap. It made me so frustrated to see Ness on the verge of depression, admitting his controlled life in front of everyone. After the event came dealing with Leila's prostitution charge, which was dealt with easily by Ninten's father, and Leila's older partner "Donnell" who was escorted here by the police.

Later, Ninten and his sisters also helped with Mr. Trevett's attempted murder charge, from getting the car's license and then witnessing the situation. When everything was presented, the court reached its conclusion: Mr. Trevett was found guilty for his abuse of power and attempted murder of Ninten, and Leila was found guilty of her prostitution charge, but not guilty of her framing act due to insufficient evidence. Regardless, Leila was sentenced to three months of jail time, and given a restraining order to stay away from Ness and me, meaning that after she left jail, she had to move away to a new town. Her father was convicted with eighteen years in prison; three for abuse of power and the fifteen for trying to kill Ninten.

All in all, we would not be seeing either of them for a very long time.

I spent the most, if not all, of my summer with Ness. His birthday arrived very soon after Leila's court case. He invited every friend he knew, but made me the only VIP, which had no special value during the big party but made me feel very happy. Unfortunately, I wasn't prepared to get him a gift because he never told me his birthday before. However, all he wished was for me to be his lover for the rest of his life.

Then, for the first couple of weeks we would spend time at each other's houses or playing at the park. We mostly preferred staying inside, because Ness became very loving at some point and we passionately kissed many times in our rooms.

Then, after leaving Ness for a week to spend time in Tazmilly, a surprise offer came to us: Ninten invited us to stay with him at his summer villa in Podunk. We never knew he even had a villa, nor believed he was that rich to have one. Regardless, Claus, Ness, and I eagerly accepted and stayed over there for about two weeks, enjoying the deluxe meals, large swimming pool, spa, hot tubs, and the rest of the amazing mansion.

Being the naughty teenagers we were, Ness and I made out a few times in one of the hot tubs or in our room, but it wasn't just us; as I passed by Claus' room a couple of times, I could hear very quiet noises from what sounded like Ninten. It certainly didn't sound like something extremely inappropriate, but I knew they were both enjoying each other.

The summer continued not only with much relaxation and leisure, but with a lot of love and care from my lover. Our life continued as we advanced into EarthBound High School, meeting new friends and still enjoying each other's company. Freshman year was a breeze, although because Ninten was in 8th grade by the time we were, Claus felt a little lonely. He made up their separate school time with daily afternoon visits. Sophomore year (freshman year for Ninten) became much more livelier between us, and during the year we found our future goals. I became an excellent academic and artistic student, Ness continued to strive in his baseball ability, Claus sought interest in computer science, and Ninten aimed to learn about law enforcement. Despite our career differences, we still loved each other, even though many things changed about us: I was somewhat more sociable and less shy; Ness became a more outgoing person than he ever was, and he gained a good growth spurt, so my head now reached his chest when we normally stood; Claus kept his reckless, headstrong self while trying to be more familiar about the sensitivity of love; and finally, Ninten's naive self continued to bother his Clausy in exchange for gaining the innocence of love I once had.

At the end of our second high school year came another summer break.

Before we could start another vacation, something life-changing arrived.

* * *

><p>"Why?!" Claus exclaimed.<p>

"I'm sorry Claus," Dad said. "I was offered a big promotion, and it pays a lot too, but they need me to move to Fourside, and it's very far from Onett. It's across the whole country; I can't just leave all of us behind."

"That's—" Claus stuttered, "that's so stupid!"

"Please, Claus," Mom begged, "Try to calm down."

"You expect me to calm down after telling me I need to leave Ninten behind?!" he yelled. As his tears built, he turned and ran up to his room.

"Claus!" Mom reacted. Dad and Boney followed him upstairs.

Tears began to form in my eyes as well. As Claus had to leave Ninten, I had to leave Ness.

"Lucas, honey..." Mom whispered. She understood how I felt, having to leave behind my soulmate to go to a new town.

"I don't wanna go..." I managed to say between sobs. She hugged me tight, and then my tears rapidly fell down my face. All I could think about was my time with Ness, and how I changed him, and how he changed me.

* * *

><p>...<p>

"I can't believe you're moving..."

"I know..."

"..."

"...Ness, I-I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"..."

"...Luke, you okay?"

"...No...I don't wanna leave you..."

"I know...I don't want you to go either.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Here."

"...What's this?"

"I meant to give this to you on our next anniversary...but I'm giving it to you now."

"It's...it's really pretty."

"You said you liked sunflowers, right? I had it made like that."

"...Thank you so much, Ness. I wish I got you something though..."

"You don't need to."

"But..."

"...Okay, how about this? If you promise to keep only me in your heart, then I'll make sure that we'll be together again someday."

"Okay...but will you always keep only me in your heart?"

"Of course. I love only you."

"So do I."

"Heh, good."

"...I love you, Ness."

"I love you too, Luke."

...

* * *

><p>At the end of our last summer with Ness and Ninten, it was time to say our farewell. The transportation truck finished packing all of our belongings, and was ready to leave.<p>

All of our good friends, Kumatora, Duster, Travis, Jeff, Tony, Paula, Loid, Poo, Ana, and our recent high school friends came to say good-bye. They had even given us a few parting gifts to remember them by. Claus was finishing his last moments with Ninten. As they turned away from each other's farewell kiss, the only thing left between them was their resisted tears.

Ness stayed close to me until I had to get in the car. He held my hand, and then held me as close as he could.

"Will you write to me or something?" he asked.

"Of course; I might get a cellphone too, so we could at least talk to each other," I replied.

"That's good..." he responded.

"...Promise to always love me?" I whispered.

"If you do the same," he answered. Crying, I tiptoed up to his lips and kissed him. He began to cry too, but immediately relinquished them to be the man he wanted to prove to be. With one last embrace, he faced away from me as I got in the car, and shut the door. Nothing more could be said.

I felt everyone's sadness as the the car began to roll. Neither Claus or I could stop crying—it was too unbearable to leave our loved ones.

As we began to lengthen the distance between each other, we heard their last words.

"_**I love you, Clausy!**_"

"_**I love you, Lucas!**_"

We turned around to see Ninten and Ness running towards us for the last time; their faces completely painted with tears. Our sorrow only grew stronger, until we were reminded that we had to promise to see each other again someday.

My thoughts blanked as I continued to hold the necklace I was given. It was beautifully silver-lined, ending with a golden sunflower shaped locket. When I opened it, I saw a picture holding the only love that connected us across the country.

A picture of that one boy and myself. Enhanced with color and extra detail, it was the very same picture I had drawn for him two years ago, taking it from my sketchbook and putting it up on his room wall.

I clutched the necklace, holding it against my chest.

My tears flowed stronger.

"_I love you, Ness._"

* * *

><p><strong>Lenne:<strong> I TOLD YOU ALL YOU WOULD HATE ME. Oh, you don't? Wait, you do? Make up your mind!

TOB is finally finished. It has been such a great story to create out of my improvised mind (in my opinion). I never knew the story would develop like this. I never intended to include ClausXNinten so much, but after creating the recent chapters, I've begun to love them even more (due to the way I created Ninten hurhur). Therefore they get more screen time.

**12/30 10:50 PM**: I also want to add some clarification: At the end of Ch2, I stated the ages of everybody. It turns out I forgot to count the birthday factor. I stated that they began at age 13, but because the story begins in May, they would be 14 by now, assuming Claus and Lucas are born on April 20. So two years in high school would make them both 16 (and Ness 16, 17 after his birthday on assumed June 5; which I had just added in after Leila's court detail)

But dear Ness and Lucas, I am so sorry to end your love lives like that.

**Ness:** _I WILL KILL YOU LENNE!_

**Lucas: **(TwT)

**Lenne: **HEY, HEY, calm down.

All right, as an apology, I am going to give you some good news. I will give you _all_ good news. It's very good news. How good is it? So much that you might squeal.

So what's the good news?

Well...

...

...Well...

...One word.

...

_Sequel._


End file.
